


It'll be you

by CrownsAndMilkshakes



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie is jealous and confused, Betty is done being the second choice, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Jughead is slightly confused but likes it, No Angst, Romance, Slow Burn, Veronica is also confused but trying to be a good friend, and an Idiot, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2020-03-08 13:45:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18895807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrownsAndMilkshakes/pseuds/CrownsAndMilkshakes
Summary: Betty has had enough.She was tired of Archie Andrews. She was tired of dating in general, so she swears to stay single the entirety of senior year.Which is easier said then done. Escpecially when she starts to spend a lot of time with her beanie wearing friend.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is based on the comics rather than the show, but I'm sure Riverdale will influence the characters as well. It's probably more of a hybrid between the two.
> 
> The chapters will be fast paced and bite-sized just like the comics.
> 
> This is my first fanfiction, I don't have a beta and english isn't my first language, so I'm sorry for all the mistakes.
> 
> I really know how to sell my fic.
> 
> Please enjoy.

Betty had enough.

She reread the text she got from Archie. 

There’s an emergency. Have to reschedule our date. Sorry.

Betty had been worried when she first read it, her mind immediately going to the worst scenarios. She wanted to call him to ask if he was okay and if she could do something, but only 3 minutes after she had received the message she looked out her window to see Archie leave the house with flowers in his hand and a smile on his face.

It seemed like it was a different kind of emergency that Betty thought it was. This “emergency” probably involved a raven haired girl.

Something in Betty snapped.

She had once again been replaced by Veronica. This was a normal occurrence, Veronica called and Archie would run to her. Never mind that he already had plans, he would change them all for her.

When this happened in the past Betty would always be heartbroken. Crying to her mom or Jughead about how she was never good enough and what she could do to make him stay with her. She would be sad for a few days until Archie would take her on another date.

But she wasn’t sad now. 

She was angry. 

That red headed idiot had stood her up too many times.

Her thumb hovered over the call button. She really wanted to give him a piece of her mind, but she thought better of it. Instead she pushed herself of her bed and changed into her running attire. She needed to clear her head and blow off some steam before she did something really stupid .

She grabbed her running shoes and walked down stairs into the living room where her mom was sitting with a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other. 

Betty sat on the couch opposite her and put on her shoes.

Alice looked up from her book slightly confused

‘Are you going for a run honey?’

Betty nodded. ‘I need to train.’

‘But I thought you were going to meet up with Archie.’

‘Not anymore. Change of plans.’ She tied her laces extra tight and stood up.

‘I’m sorry, sweetie.’ Her mom looked genuinely upset for her.

Betty shook her head.

‘Don’t be.’

She opened the front door and stepped outside.

\-----

Her legs were burning, but she pushed through it. Running came natural to her, it was an excellent way to burn of energy and she genuinely liked doing it. She was also really good at it, so joining the track team at school had been an obvious choice. 

She had an important race coming up against greendale in two weeks, so she had been training according to a strict schedule to make sure she was in top condition without over exerting herself.

Now she was moving without a goal or destination, she just let her feet take her away. Sometimes the only way clear to her head was through running. It was her therapy.

Her thoughts were racing. She thought about every single time Archie cancelled a date. Every time he looked past her at some other girl. Every time he gushed over Veronica. Every time she was the second choice.

It happened over and over again and she would just sit there waiting for Archie to come back. He always would and she forgave him immediately, but it never lasted.

She felt embarrassed, angry, sad.

She was pathetic.

Betty picked up her pace even more. Her breathing came out harsh and she started to feel a stabbing pain in her side. She had to stop, before and injury would occur.

She looked to her right and saw the sign of Pop’s diner. As if on cue her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten yet today and her body started to protest. She sprinted to last few feet to the diner.

 

‘Hey Pop.’ She greeted still slightly out of breath when she stepped inside the building. ‘Can I get a strawberry milkshake and a salad. Sorry I’m all sweaty.’

The owner smiled at her. ‘Coming right up Betty. Take a seat, you look exhausted.’

She nodded and climbed on one of the bar stools while looking around the diner. It was quite empty for a saturday afternoon. 

Pop’s was the heart of Riverdale. She and her friends had all come her since kindergarten. The food was cheap and Pop himself was one of the nicest guys who would often give them fries on the house. So it was the perfect place for students to relax after a school day.

It was an incredibly popular dating spot too. For a second she was worried that she would walk in to see Archie and Veronica sharing a milkshake together, but even Archie wouldn’t be that stupid. Besides Veronica always looked down on the diner. It was fine if they all went there as a group, but it wasn’t an acceptable date. 

‘Here’s your order.’ Pop set the salad and milkshake in front of her.

Betty smiled gratefully and took a sip.

‘That salad doesn’t look appetizing, you should go for a burger instead.’ A familiar voice said.

She turned around to see Jughead Jones standing behind her. He gave her a lazy grin, before directing his attention on the diner owner.

‘Can I get 5 burgers, a large fries and a banana milkshake.’

Pop shook his head slightly but he was smiling. ‘Anything for my biggest customer.’ He said before disappearing into the kitchen again.

Jughead plopped onto the barstool next to her.

‘Only 5 burgers? Are you on a diet Jug.’ Betty asked teasingly.

He turned to her with a look of disgust. ‘Don’t insult me like that Cooper.’

She laughed and looked her friend over. Jughead had always had a huge appetite, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at him. Most people considered him scrawny. Betty was convinced he just had a black hole where his stomach should be and they should really research his body in a lab.

‘Stop staring at me, you’re gonna burn a hole in my face.’

She huffed. ‘There’s nothing worth staring at anyway.’

He shot her a smile. He always enjoyed her feistiness. She was incredibly polite to everyone, always afraid she was going to offend someone. But with Jughead she could say and do what she wanted. She barely had any filters around him, because he wasn’t the kind of person to judge or take something the wrong way.

He was now looking at her. ‘You don’t look good, you should really eat a burger.’

‘Gee thanks. I’m just a little winded from my run.’

‘It can’t be healthy to run so much.’

She laughed at the idea of Jughead giving out health advice. ‘Tell that to your five burgers. I need to be in top condition for track this year. So that means a lot of running and not filling up on fast food.’ She moved a bit of lettuce with her fork, Jughead was right it didn’t look very appetizing.

‘Besides I suddenly had some free time.’ She said softly.

‘Archie cancelled again.’ It wasn’t a question. 

‘Yep.’ Betty was now stabbing her salad with a little too much force. She hated how it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Archie ditched her. How people looked at her with pity when she mentioned the redhead.

‘He is an idiot.’ Jughead said simply.

Pop came out of the kitchen with Jughead’s huge order in his arms and put it down in front of him. He attacked it like he hadn’t eaten in 2 days which knowing Jughead probably meant that he hadn’t eaten in 2 hours.

She snagged one of his fries. 

I’m the idiot.

She looked thoughtfully at the boy next to her. Jughead was a well known romance hater. He avoided every romantic advance made towards him, to the disappointment of Ethel, and he always seemed happy and relaxed.

‘Juggie, why don’t you date?’ She asked bluntly.

If the question surprised him he didn’t show it. ‘Too much energy.’ He answered.

Betty frowned at that. It was the answer she had expected from him, but she wasn’t satisfied with it.

‘But don’t you think the positives of dating someone are worth that energy.’

He swallowed a huge bite of hamburger and took a sip of his milkshake before answering.

‘There’s always so much drama involved and I would rather avoid that. Take Archie. He is always running around to please his choice of the week. You too blue eyes. You always seem more stressed than happy when dating Archie. I don’t need that. I’ll just stay blissfully single.’

He was right. She didn’t enjoy her dates with Archie, they were always stressful in some way. She was always thinking about how to outdo Veronica or some other girl and keep Archie’s attention on her. She was never in the moment enjoying her time with him, but was instead worrying about external forces and that can’t be a healthy way to date.

‘Must be nice.’ She sighed. ’I should try that.’

‘Try what?’ Jughead asked while simultaneously inhaling 5 fries.

‘Being single. Maybe I should just stay single for the rest of senior yaer. High school boys aren’t worth my time anyway.’

For the first time since his order came Jughead looked away from his food to study her face.

‘Are you serious.’ He asked carefully.

She gave one short nod in response.

He looked skeptical and that saddened Betty. She needed someone to believe in her and give her support.

‘You don’t think I can do it?’ she asked slightly hurt.

He shook his head. ‘It just surprised me, but I believe you can do anything you set your mind to, Betts.’ 

He shot her a small smile and she felt a warmth bloom in her chest. She raised her milkshake and gestured for him to do the same. 

‘A toast to the single life.’


	2. Chapter 2

‘I win again.’ Jellybean cheered as she jumped of the couch and did a victory lap across the living room. They had been playing mario kart for the past 20 minutes and she had won every race. ‘You really suck Jug.’

Jughead chuckled and grabbed his little sister by the waist to stop her from running. 

‘Or maybe you are really good peanut.’ He said as he pulled her into his lap. She gave him a big smile and wrapped her small arms around his neck to give him a hug. 

He didn’t tell her that he let her win on purpose. She was really good at the video game, but she was also six years old. She had been really down the past few days, something about a fight with a friend at school, so he figured she could use a confidence booster.

‘Maybe I can become a professional gamer like those people on the internet.’ She said excitedly. Jughead smiled at her, her confidence was officially boosted.

‘You can do anything you want, if you work hard.’

He heard his mother snort. ‘Maybe you can give her an example of hard work.’ She said from the kitchen.

He turned his head and grinned.

‘We all know that Jellybean is smart enough to figure it out on her own. By the way it smells amazing mom. Are you making apple pie?’

His mother rolled her eyes at the obvious turn of the conversation.

‘Yes. I’m trying out a new recipe, but it’s for the neighbours, so don’t even think about eating it or you’ll be eating salad for dinner this entire week.’

It was an empty threat and they both knew it, but Jughead nodded anyway.

‘Speaking of baking, Jellybean has to bake cupcakes for a school event this weekend, but I can’t help her because you’re dad and I will be away at the end of this week. Can you ask Betty if she wants to help?’

Jughead doesn’t know if he should be offended that his mother thinks he can’t handle baking a few cupcakes or grateful that he doesn’t have to do it.

Jellybean hopped of his lap and ran over to Gladys. ‘Can I have a sleepover with Betty mom?’

His sister had always been one of Betty’s biggest fans, saying she wanted to be just like her when she grew up and saw her as a big sister. Jughead was convinced she would rather spend time with Betty than him, but unfortunately the blonde had been very busy the past few weeks with the start of the school year and her many extracurriculars. JB had started to feel neglected and asked Jughead repeatedly if Betty could come over.

‘If Betty agrees, she can sleep over.’ His mom said.

Jughead had no doubt in his mind that she would say yes. Betty Cooper was a people pleaser, going out of her way to do things for others, often forgetting herself in the process.

He both admired that selflessness and wished she would be a bit more selfish.

He thought back to the look of determination on her face yesterday when she declared she was done with Archie. He was a skeptical, but hoped it was the truth.

He loved his best friend, but Betty was too good for Archie. Hell, she was too good for any guy in Riverdale.

‘I’ll ask her tomorrow at school.’ He promised.

The doorbell rang.

‘That’s probably Archie.’ He said.

‘I’ll get it.’ Jellybean shouted while she once again ran towards the door.

Jughead decided his sister had too much energy or maybe she too had fallen for the charm of Archie Andrews.

God, he hoped not.

A few seconds later Jellybean reappeared dragging Archie along by the hand.

‘Archie says he wants to play mario kart with me.’ 

Jughead saluted him as a way of greeting and moved to the side to make more room on the couch.

‘Hello Mrs Jones, hey Jug.’ He greeted before plopping on the couch.

‘Okay JB, let’s see what you’ve got.’ 

Ten minutes later the atmosphere in the room had completely changed.

‘I win.’ Archie cheered while Jellybean was unnaturally quiet.  
‘I’m gonna go to my room.’ She said softly.

Once she left the room Jughead lightly punched Archie’s arm.

‘Ow.’ He cried. ‘What was that for?’ 

‘Maybe don’t go all out against a six year old.’

Archie looked confused for a few moments before he started to look a bit guilty.

His best friend definitely wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He was naive, oblivious and selfish and often hurt people without meaning to because of that selfishness.

Weirdly enough it were those same traits that endeared most people to Archie. He was a bit like a lost puppy, you just couldn’t stay mad at him.

Jughead sighed. ‘Forget it. I’ll bring her a plate of cookies later and she’ll be back to normal. Let’s play some Halo.’

They played for an hour while Gladys brought them snacks, which were mostly eaten by Jughead.

They talked about how their first two weeks of senior year had gone by and how crazy it was that in a year they would be in college. They bet how many times Moose and Midge would break up before graduation. They laughed about a failed Dilton experiment.

Socializing was hard for Jughead. Most people were just too tiring to deal with and so he kept almost everyone at an arm's length.

Except for Archie.

His best friend could absolutely be exhausting and they didn’t actually have that much in common. Archie liked sports, music and girls. Jughead spend his time eating, napping and avoiding girls. But despite their differences something just clicked between them and Jughead was grateful for his friend even when he could irritate the hell out of him.

‘Did you see the new girl?’ Archie asked.

‘Nope.’

‘She’s pretty.’

Jughead rolled his eyes at that statement. ‘You think every girl is pretty.’

‘Well, she is.’ He said simply. ‘Isn’t there any girl you think is pretty?’

He thought of blue eyes and a blonde ponytail, but pretty was an inadequate way to describe Betty. She was beautiful. Not just her exterior, but also who she was on the inside. No other girl could compare.

He shrugged as response.

‘Shit.’ Archie cursed as his character died on screen. He placed the controller on the table in front of him and carded his fingers through his hair in a frustrated manner. ‘Can we change games?’

Jughead had been absolutely destroying him.

‘Sure. Losers choice.’ He grinned and Archie shot him an annoyed glare back.

While he started going through the huge game collection Jughead grabbed a cookie from the bowl on the table and slumped into the couch. His thoughts once again went back to yesterday and the conversation he’d had with Betty. He didn’t want to get involved in Archie’s messy love life, but he was curious about something.

He swallowed his bite, already hating himself for the question he was going to ask.

‘Arch, where were you yesterday. I went by your house but you weren’t there.’ This was true. He had gone by the Andrews house to ask him if he wanted to join him for lunch before going to Pop’s by himself.

‘Veronica had a dress emergency and she wanted my opinion.’ He suddenly turned around looking like an excited puppy and Jughead knew what was coming. ‘She got invited to a gala this weekend and she asked me if I wanted to be her date. The dress we picked out looks gorgeous on her and I…’

Jughead put his hand up to stop his rambling. ‘Let me get this straight. You cancelled your date with Betty so you could go dress shopping.’

Archie’s expression fell and he turned back around to put a game in the console. 

‘Well Ronnie said if I didn’t help her she would take Reggie instead.’

Jughead wondered why Archie let himself be so easily manipulated. He picked his controller up as the Mortal Kombat logo came on screen.

The red head joined him on the couch. ‘Besides Betty doesn’t care that much when I reschedule.’ He said with a nonchalance that Jughead couldn’t stomach.

‘That’s bullshit. You just tell yourself that to make you feel better about your shitty decision. Betty deserves better. You have to apologize to her.’

Archie looked a bit uncomfortable, but he didn’t care. Someone had to set Archie straight.

‘I already said sorry through text.’ He mumbled.

‘Not good enough.’

Jughead was angry and it confused him. He wasn’t one to get riled up and while Archie was being inconsiderate it also wasn’t anything new. This love triangle between Archie, Betty and Veronica had been going on for years. Jughead didn’t understand it and just stayed away from it. He didn’t want to get hit when it all inevitably exploded. He just looked on from the sidelines shaking his head and making remarks about what an idiot his best friend was. 

Why did he now feel a need to get involved. He didn’t enjoy the mix of anger and confusion that was boiling inside of him. He couldn’t take it out on the actual Archie sitting next to him, so he took it out on his character on screen instead. 

Half an hour later Archie slammed his controller down in frustration and Jughead felt a little bit satisfied.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read this so far and special thanks to everyone who commented.
> 
> This took a lot longer than expected, but I underestimated how busy I was going to be these past few weeks.
> 
> Thank god for vacation.
> 
> This was a hard chapter to write and I'm not really happy with it, but hopefully you guys enjoy it anyway.

Betty looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

“You are strong. You are beautiful. You are independent,” she repeated to herself.

She had read about this exercise in one of her mother’s many self-improvement magazines. It was meant to raise confidence, but she mostly felt silly.

She slapped her hands against her cheeks in encouragement. “You can do it,’ she said one final time before leaving the bathroom.

It was monday morning and she had decided today she was going to rip the bandaid off. Betty Cooper was going to tell Archie Andrews she wanted to break up. After thinking it over the entirety of sunday she was sure this was the right decision for her happiness.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous though. This was going to be a huge change that wouldn’t only affect them, but also Veronica and Jughead. She was a bit scared of the consequences, but she would deal with them.

“Good morning, honey,” her mom greeted when she walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning.”

“Did you sleep well?” her dad asked. “You seemed a bit off yesterday.”

She hadn’t told her dad about her failed date with Archie. He’d never liked him to begin with and she didn’t want to give him more reasons to start a fight with the boy next door.

“I slept very well. I’m full of energy actually.”

“Well you look like you’re ready to go to war,” her mom placed a plate of waffles in front of her. “Here, some battle food.”

Her mother’s waffles were famous in Riverdale and with a good reason, they were absolutely delicious, but they didn’t fit into her diet. She had been following a strict meal plan these past few weeks to prepare her for the race and these carbs weren’t welcome.

“Don’t even think about it young lady. You are going eat your waffles or else I won’t let you go to school,” her mom crossed her arms and tried to look serious but there was a twinkle in her eyes.

“Yes Ma’am,” she grumbled before taking a bite. “This is some backwards parenting.”

“No talking with your mouth full.”

Her father laughed and stood up from the table. “You two play nice while I’m gone, okay.” 

“You’re leaving me alone with this dictator?”

“I’m afraid so, sweetheart,” he kissed the top of her head. “Have a fun and productive day.”

She didn’t know about fun, but it was definitely going to be productive.

Her parents shared a kiss and then her dad left the kitchen. When they heard the front door shut behind him her mom turned to her with a smile.

“Now eat quickly or you'll miss first period.”

Betty rolled her eyes before taking another bite.

 

Despite her mother's weird attempt at making her late Betty still managed to arrive at school early.

She walked to her locker to dump her books. The nerves she had felt this morning had calmed down. The first class she shared with Archie was in the afternoon, so she would see him at lunch earliest. There was still plenty of time to mentally prepare herself.

“Hey Betty.”

Maybe not.

She turned around to see Archie standing right there. She felt like she was going to be sick.

“Hey Archie,” she heard a tremble in her voice. 

She wasn’t ready.

“I wanted to apologize for cancelling our date and I wanted to make it up tonight,” he shot her his boyish smile that was full of promise, a smile she knew all too well and she started to blush almost immediately. Maybe she had judged him too quickly, maybe she should give him one more chance.

“My parents aren’t home, so you can come over and we can order a pizza and watch a movie,” he continued. “And also there is something wrong with the Jalopy again, so you could check that out as well.”

All her doubts immediately disappeared.

“Actually Archie, I’m really busy, so I don’t have time tonight,” she almost didn’t recognize her own voice. The usual cheer was replaced by a cold tone she didn’t know she could manage until now.

The smile on his face fell and instead came a look of shock. Betty never turned down a chance to hang out with him.

“You should probably just take the car to the garage, because I’m gonna be busy for a while.”

Archie tilted his head slightly just like a puppy when they were confused. “What are you saying, Betts?”

She took a deep breath and looked him right in the eyes. “I’m breaking up with you.”

The expression on his face was almost comical. His eyes were wide open and his mouth was agape. It was a look of total disbelief, like she had just said the most absurd thing he could think off. 

“Is there another guy?” He sputtered.

Betty didn’t feel any anger at the statement. In fact she almost laughed at the comedy of the situation, because of course that was Archie’s first thought. It couldn’t be because of him that she wanted to break up. He was Archie Andrews, the guy all the girls fought over. Why would she want to let him go? 

“No, there isn’t another guy,” she scoffed. “I’m done being your second choice. I deserve to be more than some distraction from your other pursuits,” she felt proud of herself as she told him this. Two months ago she wouldn’t have had the courage to stand up to him.

She saw him processing this and he looked so much like a lost child that she almost felt sorry for him.

“I never meant for you to feel that way.” He said softly after a few moments.

“Well you did and it sucked,” she sighed. “Look Arch, I think we should stay away from each other for a while. You’re my friend and I would like for that to continue, but that can only happen if we take some time apart to think about our feelings.”

Archie didn’t say anything for a long time. He looked like he wanted to argue, but just didn’t know how to. Maybe deep down he knew he had treated her badly and that she deserved better or maybe he just never thought a day like this would come, a day where Betty would move on and now that the impossible had happened he didn’t know how to react. 

Eventually he nodded. “Okay, if that’s what you want.” He stood there awkwardly, obviously not knowing what to say or do next. “I guess I should get ready for class. Bye Betty.”

“Bye Archie.” She replied softly.

It was what she wanted, but it still hurt. Ever since she was a young girl she had imagined she would marry Archie, she had wanted it so badly and now she watched Archie walk away from her. He wasn’t gone from her life. She was sure they would still be friends after this, their history was too long and they cared too much about each other to just throw that away. It still felt like a goodbye though.

Tears started to sting her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away.

She would never cry over Archie Andrews again.

 

She walked into her science class and automatically started moving towards her normal seat before she saw Veronica sitting there. This wasn’t shocking, in fact it would be weird if she sat anywhere else. They had sat next to each other every class they had together for the last 3 years.

Normally Betty looked forward to their shared periods. Veronica always whispered commentary to her about the teachers outfits or shared the latest gossip and Betty would always give her a disapproving look but secretly she enjoyed the gossip as much as any high schooler. If the class was particularly boring they would play games or plan their next girls night. It was always a good time.

But right now she couldn’t face Veronica. She hadn’t thought it would be a big problem. After all she didn’t blame Veronica for Archie’s playboy ways. But as she watched her best friend scrolling through her phone with a bored expression on her face, probably waiting for her to show up, she knew it was a bit more complex than that. She couldn’t just walk over there and pretend everything was fine, but they also didn’t have time for complicated conversations right now.

Veronica lifted her head and smiled when she saw Betty. She raised her hand in a wave and made a gesture to hurry up, so she could show her something on her phone. Betty didn’t walk towards her or acknowledged her for that matter, instead she walked to the other side of the room towards Ethel Muggs. She felt guilty. She knew she had to talk to Veronica soon, but she couldn’t face her best friend at the moment.

“Hey Ethel, can I sit here?” She knew Ethel sat alone most of the time in this class.

The tall girl looked at her weirdly and she saw her eyes shift towards Veronica probably wondering why they weren’t sitting next to each other, but she moved her bag from the seat and made a hand gesture that indicated that the chair was all hers.

“Of course, Betty.”

“Thanks.”

She dared to take a glance in Veronica’s direction while she sat down. She found the brunete staring at her with an unreadable expression on her face. Betty quickly looked away and focused her attention on the teacher who had just walked into the classroom.

“Problems in Archieland?” Ethel asked.

“Something like that. It’s complicated.”

“Isn’t it always,” Ethel opened her science book to the page the teacher had written down on the board.

Betty smiled sympathetically.

If anyone knew something about hopeless love it was Ethel. The girl had been chasing Jughead since kindergarten. Of course Jughead dodged every romantic advance made towards him and would sometimes just run away when he saw Ethel approach. It had calmed down over the past few years, she no longer tried to kiss him against his will or forced him to go on dates with her, but Betty didn’t know if Ethel was truly over Jughead. She still often saw her looking in his direction longingly. Betty hoped she would get over it. Ethel was a kind and smart girl who deserved better than swooning after some guy who just wasn’t interested.

It was a lesson they both had to learn.

“Everyone take your seats and be prepared to absorb insane amounts of information,” their teacher said.

Betty took her notebook and pen out of her bag and was determined to not think about Archie, Veronica or romance in general, at least for the next hour. She would just fill her head with science facts instead.

 

Betty was quickly exchanging some books between classes when she heard the familiar sound of heels clicking on the floor.

“Elizabeth Cooper!”

She groaned. Her locker was not a safe space and she wondered if she could ask for a new one, just so her friends couldn’t ambush her anymore.

She turned to see Veronica storming towards her.

“You dumped Archie?” She asked once she reached her.

The tone was one of total disbelief, like someone had just told her that Jughead was going to be a vegetarian, like it was just not possible. It was the same tone that Archie had used.

Betty sighed and pulled her history books out of her locker.

“I did.” Her voice was very calm compared to how she was actually feeling.

Veronica looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“Why?” 

“Because I am tired of this game we’re playing. I’m tired of feeling second best to you.” 

It came out as an accusation and that wasn’t the way Betty meant it. She didn’t blame Veronica, not really, but there were a lot of complicated feelings inside of her right now.

“But you were happy.” Veronica said this like it was a fact. As if she had asked Betty how she felt about this whole love triangle situation. It stung that neither she nor Archie had thought about how they were affecting her.

Betty slammed her locker shut with more force than she intended. Veronica jumped back a little.

“No, I wasn’t,” she faced her former love rival. “I was actually miserable most of the time.”

“I don’t understand.”

Betty wondered, for not the first time in her life, if Veronica truly loved Archie or if she just liked the game, liked being better than others.

That wasn’t a question Betty wanted to think about right now.

She took a deep breath. “I need some time. Some time apart from you and Archie.”

Hurt flashed over Veronica’s face, but she masked it quickly and shook her head instead.

“No. We are not ruining our relationship over some stupid boy.”

Our relationship is defined by that boy, Betty thought.

“This is not a negotiation, Veronica.” She wanted to sound strict, but something about the way Veronica looked at her, the hurt and confusion still present in her eyes, softened her tone. “Please Ronnie. Just a week. I need to figure this all out on my own.”

Veronica searched her face before sighing.

“Okay, but in a week we are getting mani-pedi’s and talking about this. I’m not losing my best friend.”

“Thank you.”

Veronica took her hand and squeezed it.

 

Betty was exhausted by the time lunch came around. All she wanted to do was go home and take a nice, long nap, unfortunately she still had half the school day to go and track afterwards.

Archie and Veronica were sitting at their usual table and looked like they were passionately discussing something before stopping when they saw Betty walk into the cafeteria. They both turned around to look at her with let’s be friends smiles. She ignored them, not to be cruel, but to show them that she was serious about this and instead walked to the table where Nancy, Chuck and Jughead were sitting.

“Thank god, a girl,” Nancy cried when she saw Betty approach. “Betty join us and save me from all this guy talk.”

Betty laughed at the dramatic tone and sat next to Jughead who she shoved slightly to make more room for her.

“I didn’t think Jug was capable of guy talk.” 

Jughead shoved her back.

“We were discussing the newest issue of the red circle comics.” Chuck replied.

“That makes more sense.”

Nancy sighed. “It’s always about comics or sports with this one. I don’t know how I tolerate it.” Chuck rolled his eyes at his dramatic girlfriend and turned his attention to Betty who had started to unload the gigantic lunch her mother packed for her.

“So Betty are you ready for the race.” A question that made Nancy glare at him, before taking a disgruntled bite out of her pizza slice.

Betty nodded.“I think so. I am a bit nervous though.”

“You shouldn’t be. The coach is bragging about how you are going to set a new school record.”

Nancy slapped her boyfriend on the arm. “Don’t say stuff like that. It’s just going to make her more nervous.”

She was right. Betty knew how much the coach expected from her and it felt good to be so trusted, but it also added to the pressure.

“It’s all about maintaining now. Run everyday and eat healthy,” she looked at the lunch before her which consisted of some leftover waffles, 3 ham and cheese sandwiches, donuts and a chocolate bar. She was sure her mom was playing some practical joke on her. “I try to eat healthy, but it has recently become difficult to stick to my diet. For some reason my mother is determined to feed me insane amounts of junk food.” She gestured to her lunch to make her point.

Jughead slightly tugged at her ponytail to get her attention, when she turned to him he looked concerned.

“That sounds awful, Betts. I will sacrifice myself and eat your lunch for you.”

She put her hand over her heart and looked at him dreamily. “My hero. What would I do without you.”

“Only for you, Betty Cooper.”

She laughed and shoved her lunch towards him. He immediately abandoned his own and started wolfing down the waffles.

When Betty turned her attention back to the others she found Nancy watching her. Betty quirked her eyebrow in question.

“You two are kind of cute.” She said in a way Betty couldn’t really decipher.

Before she could reply Jughead lifted his head. “I am, aren’t I?” He said while spraying waffle crumbs everywhere. 

Nancy looked disgusted while Chuck laughed, but when Jughead swallowed his bite and shot Betty a cheeky grin she found herself agreeing that he was pretty cute.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit of a filler, but it does contain Bughead banter.
> 
> Enjoy.

When Jughead walked into the school library during his free period to do some light studying, he saw three things.

The first was Miss Grundy and Mr Weatherbee standing very close together. Miss Grundy was holding a book and talking animatedly, while Mr Weatherbee was just listening and smiling. They were also both blushing.

It was a well known fact amongst the students of Riverdale High that the two adults liked each other, but they were too shy to make a move, so the students were often subjected to awkward flirting that eventually led nowhere.

Jughead remembered one time when Betty, Veronica and some of the other girls had cooked up a scheme to trick the two into a date. It somehow ended up with them getting lectured and Reggie getting detention.

Mr Weatherbee took a step closer and Jughead quickly averted his eyes before he saw something that would scar him for life. 

The second was Dilton Doiley and Ethel Muggs, who were sitting at one of the tables. There were school books open in front of them, but they seemed to only have eyes for each other. Their heads were close together and Dilton said something that made Ethel laugh.

Jughead didn’t know what was going on there. The last time he talked to Dilton, the genius had mentioned a girl he’d met online, but now he was acting rather close with Ethel. He had noticed that Ethel had been quite distant these past few months.

Whatever was happening, it was a positive development if it meant getting Ethel off his back.

The third thing he saw was a blonde ponytail softly swaying as the girl attached to it was writing things down in her notebook rather enthusiastically. From what he could see she looked very concentrated and serious and he decided that she could use a distraction.

Betty was so lost in her own world that she didn’t notice him standing right behind her until he pulled on her ponytail.

She turned around sharply to glare at him. “Jughead, why do you think it’s okay to pull on a girls hair.”

“Just wanted to get your attention,” he smiled and sat down next to her. He looked into her notebook and saw a lot of formulas scribbled down and crossed out. It looked boring. “Your brilliant brain might explode if you keep thinking so hard. You should probably take a break.”

He tapped her forehead and she made an annoyed expression.

“If my brain is so brilliant why can’t it figure out my chemistry homework.”

She glared at the book in front of her like it had offended her somehow.

“You normally never struggle with schoolwork.”

“I know, that’s why it’s so frustrating. I feel like the answer is right in front of me, but I just can’t see it,” she put her head on the textbook and sighed. “Maybe I should ask Dilton for help.”

“He is right over there working on his own chemistry,” he nodded to where Dilton and Ethel were sitting.

Betty turned around to look in their direction. “Well, that’s an unexpected plot twist.”

When she turned back to face him, she put her hand on his. “Are you okay?” she asked with faux concern.

“No,” he deadpanned. “I will never recover from this. My heart is forever broken.”

She patted his hand. “Now now. Give it time. Your broken heart will heal.”

He leaned closer to her like he was going to tell her a secret. “I heard some freshly baked cookies help a broken heart heal faster,” he whispered.

Betty rolled her eyes and let go of his hand. “I’m sure they will.”

She stayed quiet for awhile, staring at her chemistry book. He could see the gears turning in her head, but he had no idea what she was thinking about and it irritated him.

He prided himself on his people knowledge. It was a good trade to have when choosing friends. He knew how people worked, how they thought and what their intentions were. People were often easy to figure out if you just took the time to observe the world around you.

He knew Archie inside out, not that he was a particularly complex person. He loved easily and when he loved something or someone he wanted to have it or them, but that often blinded him to what other people wanted. The result was that he hurts the people around him, but he never intends to and feels guilty when it happens.

He knew that Veronica was spoiled and selfish, had been like that her whole life, and that she could hurt people and not care, but lately she was trying to change that. Only change wasn’t that easy.

He knew Reggie, Dilton, Moose and even Ethel.  
But Betty had always remained somewhat of a mystery. She was genuinely kind and loved doing things for others. She was the perfect girl next door, but she was so much more than that.

He wanted to figure her out.

She suddenly looked up.

“Jug, what are you actually doing here?”

He was caught off guard by the question that seemed very abrupt, so it took him a moment to answer.

“Why would I, a student, be in the school library? To study, of course.”

“I didn’t think a genius had to study.” 

“Even I have to buckle down and look at my books sometimes.”

“You probably wouldn’t need to study at all if you didn’t sleep through most of your classes.”

“But when will I get my beauty sleep,” he made a silly face that made her laugh.

“You definitely need it.”

He liked making her laugh, it suited her. Betty should always be smiling or laughing. Not the forced smile she gave every single person, because it was polite and not the small laugh she gave Reggie when he made a lame joke. He meant her smile that was so bright that you had to look away. Her laugh where she would scrunch up her nose and sometimes snort.

He found himself doing weird things to get it out of her and when she actually laughed at his antics, he felt like he’d won a prize.

Lately she hadn’t been as generous with her smiles though, she always seemed a bit tense. He didn’t know if it was because of Archie or just her natural Betty Cooper obsessive nature, but it felt like she was throwing herself into school and sports.

Now she was looking at him like she was trying to figure him out. He felt the urge to make her laugh again, but he couldn’t find the words. Instead he went to opposite route.

“Archie told me about the break up. He was pretty upset.”

Betty scoffed. “He’ll get over it.”

Jughead wasn’t so sure about that. It was going to be a big change and he honestly didn’t know how his best friend was going to deal with the fact that Betty wouldn’t always be there to give him support or clean up after him.

Earlier that day Archie had run up to him all panicked going on about Betty and breaking up. Jughead, who hadn’t been in the mood to deal with Archie’s self pity, had cut the conversation short and left the redhead alone to lick his wounds.

He also didn’t want to examine all the confusing emotions he felt. He didn’t know what they meant and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

He did know he was proud of the blonde next to him. He had been a bit skeptical when she first declared she was done with Archie, but he shouldn’t have doubted her.

“How are you doing?”

She shrugged. “I’m mostly fine. A bit confused, but I don’t really want to talk about it yet.”

He nodded. “Well, if you do want to talk about it you know where to find me.”

“Thanks.”

“Now, let’s talk about someone a lot cuter. My little sister has a school event for which she has to bake cupcakes and we wondered if you wanted to come over this friday to help out. JB was even hoping for a sleepover.”

He wanted to add that she shouldn’t feel pressured, but stopped when he saw how her face lit up.

“Of course, I would love to help. I haven’t seen Jellybean in forever and I miss her.” he felt a warmth bloom in his chest at the affectionate tone.

Betty had always loved Jellybean. He remembered how Betty had knitted her a little crown beanie to match his when she was born. It was still in her room, even though it was too small for her.

Now Betty often helped out with school projects and girl things he didn’t understand. Some of his favourite nights were the ones where Betty helps him babysit.

“She misses you too. I know, because she asks me everyday when you are coming over. I honestly think she would replace me with you if she had the chance.”

“I always wanted a little sister. I was so jealous of you when she was born.”

“They’re cute, but they can be an absolute pain in the ass. I don’t mind sharing her with you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Especially if there are tasks you don’t want to do.”

He raised his hands. “It was my mom’s idea. Apparently she doesn’t think I’m capable of baking or she thinks JB needs to spend some time with a good role model.”

Betty snorted “Well, I’ll do my best to inspire her. Is there anything I need to bring like ingredients or equipment.”

He shook his head. “We’ll have everything ready. All you need to bring is your lovely self and PJ’s.”

“It would be polite to bring a pie or something.”

Of course, she was thinking about the polite thing to do.

“Betts, my parents are out. It’s just me and JB and while I’m always a proponent for baked goods, we’ll be baking cupcakes already.”

Betty looked amused. “We’ll be? Does that include you, Juggie?”

“Correction. You and JB will be baking and I will try to steal some batter.”

She smiled softly and slumped down a little. “That sounds like a fun night.”

“You look like you could use one.”

She rested her chin on her hand and looked up at him with tired eyes. “I really could.”

Then they were quiet again, but it was comfortable. Jughead liked those moments, there weren’t many people in Riverdale who could enjoy some companionable silence. They were all too energetic and liked the sound of their own voices too much.

But Betty understood the charm of those quiet moments.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Her with her eyes closed and him watching her, lost in his own thoughts.

Eventually Betty spoke up again.

“Jughead,” she said slowly. “If you are here to study, why haven’t you opened your books yet.”

He looked at the bag on the ground next to his feet, completely untouched.

He gave her a grin. “Because you’re distracting me.”

 

When he arrived home that evening, he was immediately greeted by Jellybean.

“Did you ask?” was all she said.

He ruffled her hair. “She said she can’t wait to see you, Peanut.”

She jumped excitedly up and down. “Yay! I’m going to ask mom if we can have snacks and watch movies. It’s gonna be so much fun.”

Jughead was inclined to agree and was already counting down the days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will feature sleepovers, cute sisters, baking and cuddles?


	5. Chapter 5

The front door of the Jones house opened to reveal a small girl with a bow in her hair and a beaming smile that showed the gap in her teeth.

“Hi Betty,” she greeted with the enthusiasm only a six year old could possess.

“Hello sweetie,” Betty crouched down so they were on the same eye level. “How are you?”

“Great. Jug downloaded the new barbie movie.”

“That is sweet of him. Are we gonna watch that tonight?”

Jellybean nodded. “Mom said we could order pizza.”

Betty smiled at the way she jumped up and down when she said this, like she was so excited about the prospect of pizza that she just couldn’t keep it in, which considering her last name was probably true.

“That sounds delicious.”

Jellybean nodded again. She stood still and looked like she was thinking for a moment. Betty was about to ask what was wrong when two small arms wrapped around her neck.

“I missed you.” Jellybean’s voice was muffled in Betty’s hair.

Betty chuckled and hugged her back. “I missed you too, little bean.” 

They stayed like that for a few seconds, both girls quiet and treasuring the moment, until a voice interrupted them.

“Are you just going to stay there or are you going to come in?”

Betty looked up to see Jughead standing behind them. He had a cookie in each hand and there were some crumbs on his chin indicating that he had already eaten one.

“Can’t you let two people have a moment?”

Jughead shrugged, took a bite out of the cookie and turned around walking further into the house. “You two are acting like long lost lovers,” he said over his shoulder.

Betty shared a look with JB before picking her up and following Jughead into the kitchen where she caught him with his hand in the cookie jar, literally.

She sat Jellybean down at the kitchen table and looked around the house. She used to come over to the Jones house a lot when she was younger. She would be there every wednesday and friday to play with Jughead, but that became less as they got older. Archie became her main focus and as a result she barely hung out with Jughead alone. When the three of them were together they would be at Archie’s. Now it seemed the only reason for her to be here was to babysit Jellybean, which didn’t happen so often either.

She turned her attention to the small girl who was currently trying to steal a cookie out of Jughead’s hand. Jughead held it just out of reach, before letting her take a bite out of it.

“What kind of school event do you have tomorrow, JB?”

“It’s a fundraiser,” she said while still chewing. A spitting image of her brother. “The money goes to kids who don’t have school books.”

“That’s a great cause.”

Jellybean nodded. “We have to make the greatest cupcakes and sell a lot of them.”

Betty’s heart warmed at the enthusiasm Jellybean seemed to have for this charitable cause.

The small girl continued. “We have to sell more than Marissa and win. She said my cupcakes were gonna stink.”

So maybe she was more driven by competition than charity.

She turned to look at Jughead who just shrugged.

“You heard her. We are feuding with a six year old and have to bake better cupcakes than her.”

“At least there is motivation. What kind of cupcakes are we talking about, JB?”

“Chocolate chip!” she threw her arms in the air and jumped out of her chair. Betty had never seen someone so excited about chocolate chips, but she was Jughead’s little sister, so it made sense.

Jellybean pointed to the kitchen counter. “Mom put everything we need on there.”

Betty took an apron from the counter and tied it around her waist before helping JB put hers on.

“Okay, let’s get cooking or baking in this case,” she giggled at her own joke while both the Jones siblings rolled their eyes.

The next hour consisted of Betty baking, Jellybean handing her ingredients and Jughead trying to eat those ingredients which almost resulted in a food fight.

“Why are you still here?” Jellybean had asked Jughead who had been looking over Betty’s shoulder. “You can leave if you’re not gonna help.”

“I’m supervising,” he said while putting a few chocolate chips in his mouth. “Someone has to check the ingredients.”

“No stealing,” the little girl yelled while flicking flour in his face.

Jughead grabbed a handful to throw back at her in retaliation, but Betty put a stop to that.

“We are not making a mess of this kitchen. Otherwise we’ll spend the entire evening cleaning it up and that means no movies. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they replied in unison.

“Go sit at the table,” she instructed Jughead who pouted, but did as he was told and sat there quietly the rest of the time.

At one point, when Betty was holding up Jellybean so she could properly reach the counter to whisk the batter, she looked over to where Jughead was sitting to see if he was still there. She found him watching them with a look in his face that could only be described as affectionate. It wasn’t an expression she recalled ever seeing on Jughead’s face, but she decided it suited him.

Eventually the batch of cupcakes went into the oven without any major incidents. Betty wiped her hands on her apron before taking it off. 

“I think those cupcakes are going to be amazing. You’ll definitely sell more than Marissa,” she turned to look at Jellybean who was standing in the middle of the kitchen, she had batter streaks on her cheeks and flour in her hair and over her clothes. Betty giggled and took JB’s hand. She didn’t know how she had been able to make such a mess of herself.

“I think we better clean ourselves up while the cupcakes are in the oven.”

“You guys do that and I’ll order the pizza,” Jughead said with a phone already in his hand.

“With pepperoni...”

“And extra cheese.” Jughead finished her order while looking strangely cocky.

“You don’t know me, Jones.” She stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared into the bathroom with JB.

She helped the little girl wash her face and she braided her hair which apparently no one in the Jones family could do as well as her. Afterwards they both changed into their pajamas.

Jellybean wore a light blue onesie with bears on it and Betty wore an old vixens t-shirt and pajama shorts.

When they reemerged, they found the kitchen already cleaned. There was no dirty dish in sight, no flour on the counters or floor and it smelled like a weird mix between cupcakes and dish soap.

“Jellybean, do you guys have a secret maid that you’re hiding?”

“No, I cleaned it,” Jughead walked into the kitchen and leaned against the table. “Don’t look so shocked.”

“I just didn’t know you had it in you.”

“You didn’t think I could clean?”

She shrugged. “I’ve never seen you do it.”

“Well, I’ll let you know I do my chores diligently,” he brushed his hair out of his eyes and that was when Betty realised he wasn’t wearing his trusted beanie.

He had also changed into something more comfortable. He was wearing his usual S t-shirt and pajama pants, but he looked different without his beanie. Betty was struck by how much Jughead had changed in the past few years. He was now a full head taller than her, his shoulders were broader than she remembered and his arms were showing some definition of muscles. His hair, which was now on full display, looked incredibly soft and she had the strange urge to run her hands through it.

She decided that he looked good.

Really good.

How had she not noticed her childhood friend growing up into a man? How had she been so blind to Jughead’s appearance?

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the doorbell.

“That must be our pizza,” Jughead said while walking towards the front door.

Jellybean took Betty’s hand and tugged on it. “Are you okay, Betty? You look weird.”

She smiled and squeezed her hand. “I’m fine. I was just lost in thought for a moment.

Jughead reappeared with three boxes in his arms, two of which contained pizza and one box was filled with chicken wings.

“Dinner has arrived.”

“Let’s eat it on the couch while watching Barbie,” Jellybean suggested.

Jughead grinned. “Great ideas run in the family.”

They all relocated to the living room. Jughead set up the movie on the TV while Betty got the cupcakes out of the oven and fetched them some drinks. They were all settled on the couch when Jellybean jumped up.

“Wait,” she said while running out of the room. She quickly returned with a stuffed bear and a blanket.

Betty smiled at the sight of the bear. She suddenly had flashbacks of a small Jughead with a hat too big for his head and that same bear clutched in his arms. Everywhere they went he had to have the bear with him, otherwise all hell broke loose.

“Mr Snuggles wants to see the movie.”

She sat down in between Betty and Jughead and placed the blanket over their laps.

“Let’s place Mr Snuggles somewhere else for now. We don’t want him to get dirty from the pizza.” Jughead took the bear from her and placed him against the arm rest before petting his head softly.

“Okay, now that everyone is here. Let’s start the movie.”

90 minutes later, Jellybean was snoring softly in Jughead’s lap as the movie credits rolled on the TV screen. Betty smiled at the heartwarming image and pulled out her phone to take a quick picture of the two.

Jughead gave her a disapproving look before gently nudging Jellybean awake.

“Hey Bean, the movie is over.” His voice was so soft that Betty almost couldn’t hear it.

Jughead was so well known for being a lazy, sarcastic glutton that Betty was always a bit surprised at the fact that he could be such a caring older brother. It wasn’t something that a lot of people got to see and she revelled in the fact that she was one of the few special people that got to experience this side of Jughead. 

“Another one,” Jellybean mumbled, not quite able to open her eyes.

Jughead chuckled. “I think that’s enough for one night. Let’s get you to bed.”

He began to stand up when Jellybean started to fuss.

“I want Betty to take me.”

Jughead turned to Betty. “You don’t have to. She’s basically asleep so she won’t notice who takes her upstairs.”

“It’s fine. I’ll do it.”

She gathered Jellybean in her arms and walked towards her room.

While Betty was tugging JB into her bed, she noticed a picture on the wall of Jughead, Jellybean and herself. It was taken one year ago when they all had gone to the park. Archie, Veronica and even Reggie had been there as well, but Jellybean had asked for a picture with just the three of them. 

This was the first time Betty had seen the picture and she was stunned by how genuinely happy they all looked. Especially Jughead, who was carrying Jellybean in one arm while the other was wrapped around her own shoulder. The smile on his face was blinding and she was once again struck by how good looking he was.

She also noticed how comfortable she looked. There was no tension in her shoulders, no fake smile on her face, no pretending to be happy. Instead genuine happiness radiated off of her.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had looked so carefree. 

“Betty,” she turned her focus back on JB who was looking at her through sleepy eyes. “Will you sleep here tonight?”

She smiled down at her. “Of course, I’ll come in a little bit later, okay?”

“Okay,” Jellybean yawned and hugged Mr Snuggles tighter. “I love you.”

Maybe she was emotional, because the past few weeks had been exhausting, but Betty felt tears sting her eyes. This reaction surprised her, but sometimes you don’t realise how good it feels to hear those three words until they are said out loud.

She leaned down and pressed a kiss in her hair. “Love you too, Sweetie.”

 

“Is she asleep?” Jughead asked when she returned.

“She was in her bed the last time I saw her.”

“Let’s hope she stays there. Are you up for another movie? A more adult movie.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“What did you have in mind.” Betty let herself fall next to him on the couch.

“Nightmare on Elm Street?”

Betty grimaced. “Why not something more fun like clueless or mean girls.”  
“I just sat through 90 minutes of Barbie princesses chasing after their princes. I’m not also gonna watch a teen romcom.”

“Mean girls isn’t a romcom. It’s a social commentary about high school life.”

“We already live that nightmare everyday. Why watch movies about it?”

Betty rolled her eyes. “Fine. Let’s watch Scream if we’re gonna watch a horror.”

Jughead nodded his agreement and handed her the TV remote. “You select the movie. I’m gonna make some popcorn.”

“We just ate.” Betty said half-heartedly, already knowing that was not a valid argument when it came to Jughead.

He returned 4 minutes later with a giant bowl of popcorn. When he sat back down, it was a lot closer than before, their thighs and arms were pressed against each other.

Betty waited for Jughead to move away. He was a big fan of his personal space and didn’t touch people when it wasn’t necessary. Every single hug they shared was initiated by her and he mostly endured it for a few second before extracting himself from her grasp and she was one of the lucky ones. He wouldn’t let Veronica within 5 feet range of himself.

But he didn’t move away. Betty didn’t mind, he was warm and comfortable and she decided to take advantage of the situation by snuggling a bit closer before focusing on the movie.

She hated horror movies. She didn’t really get scared, but she couldn’t stand the jumpscares. The only exception was Scream, she had already seen it 5 times, so nothing about it surprised her anymore.

30 minutes into the movie, Jughead moved his arm onto the back of the couch and lightly tugged on her ponytail to get her attention.

“You know, watching a movie 10 times spoils the fun of a good horror movie.”

“What, exactly, is fun about a horror movie.”

“It makes sure you stay alert. It draws you in and you always wonder what will come next. It keeps you on your toes, but you look pretty relaxed right now.”

“I’m so relaxed,” she drawled as she snuggled even closer and leaned her head on his shoulder.

To her surprise, he didn’t shake her off. Instead he pulled on her elastic, releasing her hair from its grasp and started massaging her scalp.

She looked up at him and found him looking back with the same affectionate expression he had worn in the kitchen.

Betty found herself becoming shy under his gaze and had to look away, so she refocused her eyes on the TV screen and tried to follow the movie. She shivered, even though she wasn’t cold and leaned her head back on his shoulder. His heartbeat was right under her ear and its steady rhythm along with the soothing circles his fingers were making on her scalp made her even more relaxed.

Sleep hadn’t come easy these past few days, her mind always seemed to be racing, but now she had to fight to keep her eyes open. Jughead’s laziness and ability to take a nap were rubbing of on her.

Eventually, she gave up the fight and soon she drifted off to sleep where she dreamed of cupcakes, soft black hair and a little girl telling her she loved her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who decided to update after 14 years. Life has been crazy, but it's calming down and I finally have the time to write again. I really want to finish this story, especially since we are now getting into the cute stuff.
> 
> This chapter is a friendship chapter. I think the friendships are the heart of the comics, so I do want to give them time too. But this chapter will also set up some fun future bughead scenes, so stay tuned.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads and comments. It really fills me with a lot of joy!

“The burgers aren’t going to multiply, no matter how long you stare at them.”

Jughead looked up to find Archie looking back at him with an amused expression on his face.

“What?”

“I was talking to you and you just zoned out. You were staring at the burgers very intensely. Is something the matter, Jug?”

He shook his head. “Of course not.”

That was a lie. Something was the matter, but he couldn’t talk about it with Archie, because it involved Riverdale’s favourite blonde.

Friday Betty had come over to bake cupcakes and it had been a great time. The cupcakes had turned out a hit at Jellybeans school and she sold the most by far.

But that evening he had fallen asleep with his arm wrapped around Betty, which was already weird on so many levels. What made it even weirder was that when he woke up and saw Betty in his arms, he wasn’t freaked out. In fact all he wanted to do was hug her tighter and go back to sleep. He had been so comfortable, even though they spend the night on a crappy old couch.

Luckily Jellybean had come in and woken them both up before he could do something stupid like push his face in her hair. Jellybean had been upset, because Betty had promised she would sleep in her room. As an apology, Betty had made chocolate chip pancakes and all was forgiven.

But a day later he was still thinking about it. It wasn’t something he would usually do. He didn’t come close to people, especially girls. That evening he had already gone a step further and played with her hair, which then became a head massage. He didn’t know why he had done that, only that Betty had looked tired and he wanted to help her relax. It had helped, because 5 minutes later Betty was fast asleep. And what did he do? He wrapped his arms around her and laid his head on hers, because that seemed like the natural thing to do.

What had gotten into him?

“Jug!”

He had zoned out again and now Archie was looking at him with worry. He really didn’t want Archie to ask him what was going on with him, because he hated lying to his friends, so he spoke quickly.

“Sorry Arch. What were you saying?”

“I asked you if you had seen Betty lately.”

Could Archie read minds? 

“Why?”

Archie was stirring his milkshake rather than drinking it. “I haven’t seen her lately and wondered if she was doing okay. I hope she isn’t too sad?”

Images of Betty laughing while she helped Jellybean decorate the cupcakes flashed through his mind.

“She’s been doing good from the few times I’ve seen her.”

Archie didn’t seem too happy about it. Did he want her to be sad? Did he want her to regret her decision? 

Jughead supposed that was the natural reaction to a break up, but it still irked him. Relationships were exhausting.

He took a big bite out of his burger and watched Archie play with his fries, which was something he did when he felt uncomfortable.

“I was thinking, maybe I should go see her,” he said slowly like he knew it was a stupid thing to say.

“Didn’t she ask for some alone time.”

“Yeah, but maybe she would change her mind if I come to her, besides Veronica is busy with some guy right now and I…”

“You’re bored,” Jughead continued. “So you’re gonna go to Betty even though she doesn’t want to see you.”

Could his friend really be so selfish? Did he not see that this was actually the reason why Betty broke up with him? 

He took another bite to stop himself from saying something.

Archie seemed to think about it, still playing with his food and for some reason that irritated Jughead, he couldn’t even commit to eating a french fry. He stole a handful from Archie’s plate, because he decided that he didn’t deserve them.

Suddenly Archie righted his back and looked Jughead straight in the eye.

“Jug, be honest with me. Is she seeing someone?”

“Does it matter?”

“It would give me a reason to not go see her.”

Jughead had never wanted to punch some sense into his best friend, until now.

“You are not going to see her, because she doesn’t want to see you. This is not just about what you want, Arch. You have to respect her wishes or else she will hate you forever,” he said this slowly like he was explaining it to a child.

Archie deflated in his seat and shoved his plate of fries towards the middle of the table. Jughead couldn’t decide if he looked angry or sad. Honestly, he didn’t really care.

The silence around them was awkward and Jughead was about to say he was going home when a loud and irritating voice filled the diner.

“What’s up, nerds,” Reggie Mantle plopped down in the booth next to Archie.” Just the two guys I wanted to see.”

Jughead didn’t know if he was happy or annoyed by Reggie’s appearance. Happy, because it helped ease the tense air. Annoyed, because it was Reggie.

“What’s going on? The air feels a bit cold.”

Jughead scoffed. This was probably the first time Reggie was able to read the atmosphere correctly.

“There’s nothing going on.” Archie mumbled.

Reggie looked at him for a second before a knowing smile formed on his face. “I heard about Cooper, Arch,” he slung his arm around the redhead in support. “Is that why you are so down?”

“Not really,” it didn’t sound convincing.

“I can’t believe she dumped you. I thought she would continue to chase you forever.”

Archie slumped down even more, he had thought the same thing, but he absolutely didn’t like the reminder.

“But you two are really over?”

Archie nodded slightly like he didn’t want to admit it.

“So is it cool if I ask her out?”

Archie shot up at that sudden question, he looked horrified at the idea. And Jughead was sure he had the same look on his face. He didn’t even know Reggie was interested in Betty. Sure he flirted with her, but he flirted with every female. He was a massive playboy.

The idea of Reggie and Betty together made his stomach turn and suddenly his burger didn’t taste that good anymore.

But he kept quiet, it wasn’t for him to make that decision. He watched Archie closely. The redhead swallowed and turned to Reggie.

“Ask her if you want, Reg. It’s not my decision.”

It didn’t sound convincing, but Jughead was proud of his friend that he didn’t go the typical neanderthal route.

Reggie obviously didn’t see Archie’s discomfort.

“Cool,” he said while taking a few fries from Archie’s discarded plate.

“But that’s not why I came over,” he continued. “We’re organizing a guy’s night at the bowling alley. It’s been a while since we all hung out. Moose and Chuck will be there. Dilton said he had other plans. What about you guys?”

It had been a while since he had hung out with the guys, in fact he couldn’t remember the last time. So he supposed he should go. It would be a good palate cleanser from the Archie/Betty drama.

He was bummed that Dilton wouldn’t be there. The bro squad always got insufferable when there was a competition involved, but he could handle it alone for an evening.

“That sounds like fun. I’m in.” Archie said.

“What about you, Pinocchio?” Reggie looked proud of the insult as if he hadn’t called him that a million times already.

His friendship with Reggie was complicated, if he could even call it a friendship. They both were friends with Archie, so they tolerated each other. Sometimes Reggie was a decent human, other times he was the stereotypical jock that Jughead loathed. Insulting him was just how Reggie communicated and Jughead often returned it with a witty comeback that Reggie didn’t get. But today he decided to take the high road and let it go.

“I’ll be there, Reggie.”

This could be exactly what he needed to set his mind straight again.

\------

“What about this?” Midge came out of the dressing room wearing a yellow knee length dress. She twirled around once, so that Betty could see the entire dress before giving her opinion.

“It’s really cute. Moose will drool over you.”

Midge smiled. “That’s the plan. We’re fighting right now and I want him to really regret what he did.”

Betty rolled her eyes. Moose and Midge were always fighting, she was sure they liked the drama. “What did he do?”

Midge was quiet and looked like she was thinking. “I don’t remember,” she said. “Doesn’t really matter. He’s in trouble and he should apologize.”

Betty couldn’t believe that these two have been together since they were in elementary school, but they seemed happy, most of the time. Why did everyone in Riverdale have such dramatic relationships? Was it so difficult to just be chill? 

Midge checked her own reflection in the mirror, turning side to side before smiling. “I’m gonna buy this one.”

She turned back to Betty. “Do you have any clothes you wanted to try on? You have a lot of boys to woo, now that you’re free of Archie.” She wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

Betty had seen a really cute skirt earlier. It was different from her usual style, but her legs would look good in it. It would be something she would typically wear on a date. 

She shook her head.

“Are you sure? You just looked at that plaid skirt earlier like you were in love with it.”

So she was really bad at masking her emotions.

“It was really cute, but I have no reason to buy it. I don’t plan on wooing any boys.”

Midge shrugged. “Just buy it for yourself. You can just look cute for you. You don’t always have to impress someone. Wait here, I’ll go get it for you and you’re going to try it on.”

Midge walked back into the store, still in the yellow dress and on barefoot. 

She was right. Betty only dressed up for dates or formal occasions. In everyday life she wore clothes that were comfortable. Not that she thought she looked bad. Well sometimes, when she compared herself to someone like Veronica who always wore high heels and short, tight dresses and honestly always looked great, but she tried not to compare herself. She liked her jeans and t-shirts, but maybe sometimes she could dress a bit cuter. Not because she wanted Archie or some other boy to fall in love with her, but because she wanted to feel good and look good for herself.

Midge came back with the skirt in her hands. “I think this will look amazing on you.”

Betty smiled feeling confident. “You know what I think you’re right.” She walked into the dressing room.

 

Half an hour later the girls were in the food court with bags filled with new clothes. Betty had bought the skirt and some tops to go along with it, they were all something she wouldn’t normally pick out, but despite that it still all felt like her. Just a new and improved Betty Cooper.

Midge was going on about how she wanted to change her hair colour and Betty was listening and nodding along when she saw Veronica walk by.

For a second she considered ducking, but it was already too late. Veronica had seen her and was walking in their direction.

“Hello ladies, what are you two doing here.”

“We’ve been shopping,” Midge nodded to the bags.

“I have been buying some new clothes as well,” Veronica held up two bags from the most expensive store in Riverdale. Midge’s eyes popped open, even though everyone knew that Veronica was rich it could still be shocking to see her wealth. “There’s nothing more refreshing than changing up your wardrobe.” The brunette smiled at both of them before setting her full attention on Betty.

“Bettykins, can I talk to you?” Betty looked at Midge who waved her away.

“You two can talk, I’ll guard the bags and the food.”

Betty followed Veronica to a corner table in the food court. Veronica wiped the seat before sitting down and invited Betty to do the same.

“What do you wanna talk about?”

Veronica looked at her seriously. “Are you okay?”

Betty wanted to laugh at the grave tone. “I’m fine, Veronica.”

“Well, that’s good. It’s been a week and you said we could talk in a week,” Veronica seemed hesitant and unsure of herself which was a side that she almost never showed. “I miss you, Betty.”

Betty took her hand and squeezed it. She knew it wasn’t easy for her to be vulnerable and that she was willing to show that to Betty meant that she was really trying. “I miss you too.”  
Veronica looked relieved and gave her a wide smile. “Then let’s not avoid each other. I want my best friend and gossip and shop and do all the things we normally do without it being weird.”

Veronica made it sound easy, but Betty knew it wasn’t going to be. She wanted to try, though.

Veronica must have seen the uneasy look on her face. “I know things might be a bit awkward in the beginning, but we’re both big girls. Stupid boys have never shouldn’t come between us. And I understand your need to take a break from Archie. I am going out with some other guy right now and it is such a breath of fresh air and…”

Betty closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As Veronica rambled on, she felt a headache growing. The last thing she wanted to hear about right now was her new boytoy. She knew her best friend really well and she knew that Veronica was being genuine right now. She truly wanted them to be okay and go back to normal, but she just wouldn’t listen to a word she was saying.

“Veronica, stop,” she pulled her hand away and looked at her seriously. “We are going to be okay, but you have to understand one thing very clearly. I am not on a break. I am not going through a phase. I’m done with Archie. And it’s nothing deep. I had a crush on a guy and I realized he wasn’t who I wanted him to be and now I’m moving on. That’s it,” she was talking in a calm voice, but she really wanted Veronica to understand this. If she didn’t then Betty feared their relationship would never go back to normal.

Veronica nodded slowly and she lowered her eyes to the ground. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess I have a hard time adjusting. I probably thought nothing would ever change between the three of us.”

Betty imagined them all in an elderly home and grandma Betty and Veronica fighting over Archie. The image made her want to laugh, cry and cringe all at the same time.

Veronica was still looking down, refusing to meet her eyes. This was her showing weakness. Giving Betty time to think and let her make the decision. She gave over her power, something she never did.

Betty smiled at her despite herself. Her stubborn, proud, flawed best friend. She moved on the bench toward her and threw her arms around her as reconciliation. 

“We are going to be okay,” she repeated. “We just have to take it slow.”

Veronica’s arms came around her and she felt her nod. The two girls stayed like that for a minute before they heard Midge yelling all the way across the food court.

“The food is getting cold!”

Veronica pulled back and quickly wiped at her eyes. “That girl has no tact,” she huffed.  
Betty laughed and pulled Veronica up with her. “Do you want to join us?” she asked.

Veronica looked at her with a small smile and linked their arms together. “It would be my pleasure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Archie ever stop being annoying? Who knows.
> 
> Next chapter: The boys go bowling, but there is a twist. And Betty and Jughead are cute.
> 
> I promise the next chapter will be released before june 2020.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you I would update before 2020.
> 
> I found this a difficult chapter to write, but I hope you will enjoy it.
> 
> Once again thank you to everyone who is reading this story. It truly motivates me to write, even when the words on the page don't form the sentences I want.
> 
> You are the best!

When Jughead arrived at the bowling alley, he saw something that puzzled him.

Girls.

They were everywhere.

Midge was throwing bowling balls together with Moose and Nancy and Chuck were cheering them on. Ginger Lopez was chatting with a guy he didn’t recognize. Even the she-devil herself, Veronica Lodge, was in the vicinity. She was currently in Archie’s lap, giggling at something he said. They were looking pretty cozy, even though Archie had said she was pursuing some other guy at the moment.

He felt a sense of dread in his stomach. This was not the relaxed guy’s night he was promised. It seemed more like his own personal hell.

An arm was slung around his shoulders and the scent of deodorant attacked his nostrils.

“Jug. You’ve made it,” Reggie greeted him.

Jughead immediately shrugged his arm off and took a step to the right to put some space between them. He was already annoyed.

“Unfortunately,” he replied. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought you said it was going to be a guy’s night.” 

“Yeah, change of plans. I changed it into a couples night,” Reggie shrugged like this was no big deal. “I asked Ethel to come, but she said she was busy tonight. I guess she has become immune to your charms.”

Jughead scoffed. “And who is your date?”

Reggie gave him a smirk that meant no good. “Don’t worry. She’ll be here soon.”

Then Moose shouted his name and Reggie saluted him before walking away.

This was Jughead’s nightmare. Not only had the night been hijacked by a couple girls he could barely tolerate at school, he was also surrounded by couples acting all lovey-dovey.

The only way this could be worse was if he had a date he had to entertain himself.

He was wondering if anyone would notice if he just went home now, when a hand found purchase on his arm. 

“Juggie, thank god. You’re here too,” he heard an all too familiar voice say.

He looked to his left to see Betty looking back at him with thankful eyes.

“Betts, what are you doing here?”

“Reggie had mentioned some of the gang was going to go bowling tonight and he said that I would even out the teams.”

Jughead saw right through Reggie’s plan. This was all a big rouse to go out with Betty.  
Her hand was clutching his arm quite desperately as if she too, was regretting showing up. He welcomed its presence though, he didn’t feel the need to shake it off like he had done with Reggie.

Betty was quiet and staring straight ahead of her. When he followed her gaze, he saw Veronica and Archie, still too wrapped up in each other to notice their presence.

He looked back at her to gauge her reaction, but he couldn’t. She looked completely neutral. So he just asked.

“Are you okay?”

Betty seemed to wake up from a daze and turned to look at him.

“I am,” she said slowly like she wasn’t sure, but then she smiled at him. A true smile. “I actually am. A lot more okay than I thought I would be.”

He returned her smile. “If that’s the case, let’s join them,” he started walking, but Betty tugged his arm back. 

“I’m not that okay,” she laughed.

The sound was like music to his ears and despite his better judgement he was changing his opinion about tonight. It might turn out to be fun.

“Baby Coop,” Reggie’s annoying voice boomed. He appeared in front of them. “You’re just in time. We are starting now. We’re competing in duo’s and lucky for you, you’re on my team,” he smiled arrogantly, a smile that was supposed to make girls swoon.

Jughead scowled at him for claiming Betty like that. Like he had any right to.

But Betty took a step closer to Jughead, their sides were now fully pressed together and it strangely calmed him.

“I thought maybe I could be on Jughead’s team,” she said hesitantly, probably not wanting to hurt Reggie’s feelings. When she looked up at him for reassurance of her decision, making sure he really wanted to be on her team. He found himself lost for just a second, looking into her eyes from this close was not something he did often and for a moment he was fascinated by the bright blue orbs.

When he came back to earth, he found Reggie now watching him. His gaze wasn’t sweet like Betty’s and his eyes were definitely not as mesmerizing. The jock looked confused like he had forgotten that Jughead was there. He had probably assumed that he would have left by now and he would have been right if it wasn’t for the blonde angel next to him.

Then his gaze slid to their linked arms and quickly back to Jughead. The rejection clear on his face.

Jughead felt something weird like pride that Betty had chosen him over Reggie, but he chose not to examine that emotion.

“But you can join our team,” Betty said quickly. Trying, as always, to make everyone happy.

“Yeah, no thanks,” Reggie said. “I’ll ask Moose and Midge if I can play the third wheel there,” with one last scowl directed towards Jughead, he turned around and walked away.

Jughead felt strangely smug about the fact that Reggie’s plan backfired.

“Now I feel bad,” Betty sighed.

“Don’t feel bad for that neanderthal,” he replied. “He basically set this whole thing up to trick you into a date.”

Betty’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Why not just ask me?”

“Because of some bro code with Archie or because he is still a kid and thinks asking out girls directly isn’t cool.” 

“Well that’s stupid,” Betty huffed and let go of his arm. She took a step to stand in front of him. 

“Let’s show these boys what we’ve got.”

Her eyes were bright with competitive spirit and he loved this side of her.

Something nobody knew, not even Archie, was that Betty and Jughead were really good at bowling. When they were 11 years old, Archie spent the summer away at camp, leaving Jughead and Betty alone. For some reason that Jughead cannot remember, they spent all their time in the bowling alley, drinking milkshakes and competing who could throw the most consecutive strikes. If Jughead won, Betty would bake him his favourite pie.

It was a good summer.

He grinned at her. “Lead the way, my lady.”

2 hours later all the jocks were yelling about how they were cheating while Betty and Jughead celebrated their winning strikes. 

“This is bullshit,” Reggie grumbled. “I want a rematch.”

All the girls groaned in unison at that statement.

“No way,” Veronica said. “I am not ruining my manicure any longer. Let’s go eat. You can show off your manliness with an eating contest if you want.”

Jughead turned to Veronica with a shocked expression. “I think this might be the first time in your life that you have a good idea, Princess. You’re buying the food, right?”

Veronica rolled her eyes, but nodded anyways. Clearly alright with anything as long as it’s away from the bowling lanes.

Jughead looked at Betty with a smile. “Come on, Betts. Let’s go eat the Lodges into bankruptcy.”

“I think you will have to consume more food than humanly possible.”

“I’m willing to take that challenge,” he patted his stomach and then marched to the restaurant part of the bowling alley, ready to order every item on the menu.

Not long before the entire gang is seated at a large table overflowing with food. Jughead was already on his fourth plate and was shoving food in his mouth sloppily just to irritate Veronica who was watching him with a disgusted look on her face. Betty, who was sitting next to him, gently poked him in the side with her elbow as a way to reprimand him, but he could see the tiny smile on her face.

Overall Jughead would say he was having a good time.

“Betty.” 

It took him all his will power not to groan. Once again Reggie appeared next to them, this time with a pool cue in one hand. The guy was determined to get Betty’s attention.

“Wanna play some pool,” he gestured to the tables on the far right of the building. “I can teach you if you want.”

Jughead had a weird sense to punch the arrogant smile of his face, instead he took another bite and shook his head. When was this guy gonna learn? 

He turned to Betty to study her face, but she showed no emotion when she said, “Sure Reginald, sounds like fun.”

She stood up and followed after the jock, but not before turning back to Jughead and winking at him. Jughead returned it with a salute.

Something that guys like Reggie had to learn was to stop underestimating Betty Cooper. The girl could basically do anything. At least it was wiser to just assume that she knew how to do something and probably a lot better than you otherwise you were gonna end up embarrassed.

And if you wanted a girl to like you, then maybe you shouldn’t be so condescending. But what did Jughead know, he has never had a girlfriend. 

He turned his attention back to the more important things, his food. He wanted to try for at least 8 plates tonight.

He was only on plate six when Reggie came back with a sullen expression.

“How did pool go?” Moose asked innocently.

Reggie didn’t say anything, but Betty came up behind him with a smile on her face and a twinkle of victory in her eyes. “It was a lot of fun. Who else wants to play?” 

Everyone wanted to play except for Jughead, Archie and Veronica. They all knew how good Betty was and how scary she became once she got a taste of winning. The girl was incredibly competitive.

They stayed another two hours. Betty ended up giving everyone pool lessons instead. But around 11 PM she started yawning, so Jughead gently nudged her.

“Let me take you home, Betts. Before you fall asleep on the pool table.”

Betty nodded lazely and threaded her arm through his. They said their goodbyes to everyone. Jughead ignored the vaguely jealous looks from Archie and Reggie as well as the amused ones from Midge and Nancy.

They walked in silence for a while. Betty was leaning heavily in his side, letting him take a bit of her weight. The night seemed to have taken a lot of her energy. Her arm was around his bicep, squeezing it. 

“Are you feeling me up, Cooper?” 

Betty looked up at him with sleepy eyes before quickly widening in shock. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize what I was doing,” a blush spread over her face. “I was daydreaming and doing that subconsciously, I guess.”

She directed her gaze to the ground and didn’t say anything else, probably embarrassed. Jughead couldn’t help the amused smile that took over his face, this girl could be really cute.

“I have been going to the gym with Archie, you were probably just mesmerized by my muscles,” he flexed his arm playfully and he heard Betty giggle softly.

“You know, you could be a swimmer. You have a good body for it,” she looked up at him again and the blush was still very much present. A weird thrill went through Jughead realizing that he could make Betty Cooper blush. The thought also scared him a little, so he turned the conversation to her.

“You’re probably tired of people asking you if you’re ready or nervous for the race, so let me ask you, are you excited that you can eat junk food again after saturday.”

Betty rolled her eyes, but grinned anyway. “I’m going to Pop’s straight after and will eat until I’m sick.”

“Let me take you,” the words were out of his mouth before he realized he had said them. “I’ll even pay for you.”

Betty looked at him with mock shock.

“Jughead Jones offering to pay for someone else’s food?”

“Only if you run a good time. Otherwise you have to pay for my food.”

Betty smiled. “Does that mean you’ll come watch?” she asked.

He looked at her confused. He had always come to her and Archie’s sport events, even when he really didn’t want to. He was their best cheerleader after all.

“Of course,” he said. “We always come as a group to support each other, right?”

“I thought because of the recent situation that you guys maybe wouldn’t come. I haven’t asked the others.”

“Do you want them to come?”

Betty shrugged with fake nonchalance, so that meant yes.

Betty quickly unthreaded her arm from his once they arrived at the Cooper house and Jughead felt a weird sense of loss. But that loss was immediately replaced when Betty wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. He took a step back from shock. A hand on his arm was one thing, but having her whole body pressed against him was far out of his comfort zone. Nonetheless his own arms came up slowly, awkwardly to hold her body. He couldn’t remember the last time Betty had hugged him, probably elementary school when his personal bubble rule wasn’t so firmly in place yet.

But he liked it. Betty was warm and small and soft. It was like hugging a marshmallow, which he probably shouldn’t say out loud to her because it’s weird and won’t be taken as a compliment.

“Thanks for walking me home and for being a good friend,” Betty mumbled against his t-shirt.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, until Betty disentangled herself and started walking towards the front door. Just before she walked into the house she turned back around and gave him a sweet smile and a small wave. He waved back and was still waving when the door closed, still in shock. Because of himself and because of Betty.

He had a set of rules for himself and others and in the past two weeks that girl had been able to break a lot of them and he wasn’t mad or uncomfortable. In fact, he was enjoying it and he was looking forward to spend more time with her. 

He shook his head firmly. He could examine these feelings later. Right now he had a new mission that he had to accomplish before the race on saturday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Betty is running. Jughead is cheering.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New year. New chapter.
> 
> I hope all you lovely people had a good end of the year and wish you all a great 2020.
> 
> The end of december is always insane and I needed a week to recover from it. But now I'm back. My new year resolution is to write more and to post more. Not just this story, but all my other stories that I have been working on for the past year. So stay tuned.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Betty woke up with butterflies in her stomach. The big day had arrived. Today was the track meet against Greendale. She had trained for this for weeks and she knew she was in top condition. She was ready.

But it felt like all the pressure was on her to deliver. She obviously wasn’t the only one running today. The whole team had trained hard and everyone was talented. But she was the one everyone was watching. She was going to run the 5K and was the favourite to win. The coach had started making jokes about setting a new record which became more serious as time went on.

She pulled herself out of bed and started walking towards the bathroom to begin her gameday ritual. But she stopped in front of her window and glanced to the house next door. Archie wasn’t waiting by his window for her and even though she should have expected that, it still hurt. It was the first time in the past few weeks that she truly missed Archie.

They had this tradition whenever either of them had a big event. In the morning, one would wait by their window with a banner that often had a funny saying on it. This way the first thing the other person saw was positive. After that they would bring over breakfast and Archie would drive them to school in the Jalopy.

This was all initiated by Archie, because Betty used to get so nervous she couldn’t eat or drink. It was his job to distract her and make her feel better.

It wasn’t anything special, but it was their tradition. An always positive start to the day. Now he wasn’t there. She knew it was her own fault, but deep down she had hoped he would be waiting for her.

She hadn’t even told him that the race was today and while it was known knowledge around the school, Archie tended to be quite oblivious about things that didn’t involve him. He probably forgot.

In fact she hadn’t told any of her friends to come and support her.

She heard a knock on her door and a second later her mom popped her head in.

“Hey champ, did you sleep well?”

Betty nodded. She had slept unexpectedly well. It was probably the calming tea her mother had made for her last night.

“That’s great. Is Archie coming over with breakfast?”

“No, I don’t think he is.”

A flash of sympathy crossed her mother’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a smile.

“A good thing I made breakfast then. Hurry up and get ready. You don’t want to be late.”

She smiled at her mom and nodded. In the bathroom she splashed some cold water in her face to focus. Now wasn’t the time for self pity, it was time to win. She changed into her running attire with some extra layers on top. She made sure her ponytail was extra tight.

Once she made her way downstairs, the aroma of eggs surrounded her. She wasn’t exceptionally hungry, but she supposed she could eat some scrambled eggs.

When she sat down her dad smiled at her and kissed her temple. Her parents knew she didn’t want to talk when she was nervous, so they let her eat in silence. She chewed her food slowly and thoughtfully, not wanting to cause a stomach ache and was mentally already on the track.

The rivalry between Riverdale and Greendale was insane, so the sport events between the two school were intense. Greendale had won the last football game and that hadn’t gone over well at school. The rumours went wild, kids said they used magic to cheat. Sometimes fights between students from the schools would break out.

The message was clear to her, she had to win. Suddenly the eggs in her mouth tasted like gravel.

“Betty!” her mom was waving her hand in front of Betty’s face. “Where were you?”

“Sorry, Just daydreaming.”

Alice sighed. “Don’t stress yourself out too much. It’s all going to be fine. Your dad and I have to run some errands, but we’ll be on time to watch you run. Will you be okay getting to school?”

Betty nodded. “I’ll just take the bike. It will warm my muscles up.”

Her mom kissed her cheek and wished her good luck.

Betty made herself eat three more bites before throwing away the rest. She hated wasting food, but she couldn’t eat anymore or she was going to be sick.

She grabbed her bag, made sure she had everything she needed and left the house.

She started walking to the shed to get her bike when she noticed a car on the street before her house and a tall figure leaning against it.

“Jughead?”

The boy looked up from his phone and waved at her like it was the most normal thing for him to be waiting in front of her house.

She crossed her front yard. “What are you doing here?”

He quickly put his phone in his back pocket before answering. “I am taking you to your game.”

“I was gonna take the bike.”

Jughead clicked his tongue. “That simply won’t do. What if something happens to our top athlete?”

“What could happen?”

“You could fall of your bike and break your ankle and you would never run again and we wouldn’t win against Greendale.”

Betty shook her head affectionately at the dramatic boy in front of her. It was sweet of him to show up here. Jughead knew Archie always drove her and that he wouldn’t now. So even though she didn’t need the ride, it was appreciated.

“Thanks, Juggie.”

He just shrugged. “That’s alright. Now get in the car or we’ll be late and that will somehow be my fault.”

Betty walked to the passengers side where she was greeted by a huge bag sitting in her seat.

“What’s in there?”

“I’ve brought a bag full of necessary supplies for today.”

“Thanks, but I’ve got everything in here,” she lifted her own bag off her shoulder and threw it on the backseat.

“No, I mean my supplies,” Jughead proceeded to pull out an obscene amount of chocolate bars, two pillows and even some earplugs.

“What are the pillows and earplugs for. You gonna fall asleep,” she pulled a mock angry face.

“If I have to sit on a bench for several hours, I might as well make it comfortable. As for the earplugs,” he smiled at her. “You’ll see.”

He grabbed the bag and tossed it backwards where it joined hers and he made a motion with his arm that signalled she should get in.

The drive to school was pretty short, only fifteen minutes, but Jughead had never driven her. She actually couldn’t remember a time where they were the only two people in a car. For some reason it felt cramped and Betty was a bit nervous to be alone with Jughead in an enclosed space.

Who was she kidding? She knew the exact reason why she was feeling that way.

The truth was she had been having dreams about Jughead. They started after they fell asleep on his couch together. That had been one of the most comfortable nights of sleep she ever had and apparently her brain wanted to recreate that memory at night.

The first few dreams were very innocent. Dream Jughead would cuddle dream Betty. At first side by side with his arm around her, just like that night at his house. In later dreams they would be spooning. That was all. But then things evolved. Dream Jughead would start kissing her neck, her mouth. She couldn’t even think about the dream from two nights ago without blushing. The ghost feeling of his hands running up her thighs was too much, especially when the real thing was sitting mere inches away from her.

Dreams are nonsensical. The last dream that involved Archie was one where his head was attached to Vegas’ body and he could only bark. It ended with him flying away on a rocket. Her brain was always overactive and creating absurd realities.

But dream Betty had enjoyed the attention Jughead gave her. Real Betty had enjoyed it. In the blissful seconds after waking from a dream she would try to reach for Jughead, her body still humming where he had kissed her, only for disappointment to settle in when she realised she was alone in her bed.

It was ridiculous. She was single for a few weeks and her brain started dreaming about her best friend. Was she that needy? It was even more hilarious when she fully realised who she was fantasizing about. She may have a dating ban for the rest of senior year, but Jughead has a dating for the rest of his life. Her subconscious needed to catch up.

That didn’t stop her from dragging her eyes over every inch of his face. From his jawline to the lips that have been haunting her dreams to his nose and eventually ending on the hair that escaped his beanie.

The guy was good looking. Weird how the female population of Riverdale hadn’t caught on yet.

“What are you looking at, Cooper?”

His voice shook her from her trance, but she didn’t miss a beat.

“Was just wondering if you were actually Souphead in disguise. No way that the real Jughead is this thoughtful.”

“I can be thoughtful,” he pouted as if he was offended and Betty found it adorable.

He was right. Jughead had been awfully thoughtful the past few weeks. Not that she ever thought he was selfish, but he tended to keep to himself and cater to his own needs. People were just too tiring to deal with, his words.

But the past few weeks he had been a positive constant in her life, helping her or giving her a pep talk when needed. Overall, he seemed more sociable and present.

She wondered what brought on this change.

Betty was once again deep in thought when Jughead spoke up again.

“Okay, Betts,” he sighed. “You are allowed to do the thing.”

“What?”

“You know, the thing Archie and Veronica have banned you from ever doing in their cars.”

It took her a minute to understand what he meant before a wide smile took over her face.

“Really?”

He handed over his phone. “It’s the first song on the playlist.”

If he thought that Betty grabbed the phone a little too eagerly, he didn’t say anything.

A few seconds later the first notes of Dancing Queen by Abba filled the car. She turned the volume all the way up and yelled, rather than sang, along.

By the time the song was finished, they were parked in front of the school and Jughead was watching her with an affectionate expression on his face. Betty was too happy, and in all honesty too tired, to feel embarrassed. Any tension she had in her body she had sang out of her.

“The ultimate feel good music,” she sighed happily. “Thanks. Juggie.”

“Thought you could use a distraction from your own thoughts. Besides it’s still better than Archie’s singing.”

Betty giggled and sank back into the carseat. The music had been a good distraction, but now that they were at the school all the nerves were back mixed with other emotions. Excitement, fear and sadness. Sadness her friends weren’t there to support her.

“What’s wrong, Blue Eyes,” Jughead was still watching her, but now with concern.

She shrugged. “Just nerves.”

“That’s normal. But your nerves aren’t going away if you continue to site here. Come on.”

He was right, so Betty unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the car door. The noise of the audience on the other side of the building hit her and she felt a kick of adrenaline. There was a reason she loved track. Even though it could be scary to run with so many eyes watching your every move, there was also nothing more rewarding to achieve something with so many people cheering you on.

As they walked towards the field the sound became louder and Betty became more energized, but what she saw when she finally arrived was unexpected.

First, the crowd was huge. She had never seen so many people gather for a sports event in Riverdale. It looked like every resident from both towns were present.

Second, there were about ten different banners with her face on it accompanied by varying inspiring quotes.

“Betty,” a loud voice cut through the noise before arms were flying around her neck and long, red hair was swept into her face. A scent of blossoms surrounded her.

“Cheryl?” Betty took a step back to look the girl in the face. There was no doubt about it, in front of her stood the heiress to the Blossom empire and one of her closest friends.

“What are you doing all the way from Pembrooke?”

“Dilly brought me along. Did you think I would miss a chance to cheer on my best girl.”

“Dilly?”

Dilton Doiley appeared from behind Cheryl and wrapped an arm around her waist. Betty raised her eyebrows at the affectionate gesture and looked back at Jughead, trying to telepathically send him questions. He just shrugged.

“Jughead pestered us all into coming. Your boy can be quite a pain in the ass when he wants to be,” Dilton explained.

“Juggie did all this?” her heart overflowed for the boy standing behind her. He orchestrated all of this, because he knew she was feeling lonely and awkward. She didn’t dare turn back to him, because she might cry if she looked him in the eyes.

Instead, she scanned the crowd for familiar faces. Nancy and Chuck were holding a banner with an embarrassing picture of her on it. Midge was holding pom poms and waving them in the face of an annoyed Moose. Ethel, Reggie, Ginger and her own parents. They were all there. Only two people were missing.

“Can you two lovebirds stop blocking my view. I need to see my girl,” the voice of Veronica demanded before she shoved Cheryl to the side. The look on Cheryl’s face was comically indignant.

“Excuse me, I was talking to Betty,” she started but Veronica held up her hand to Cheryl and turned to fully face Betty.

“Ronnie, you came?” Betty said somewhat shyly.

Veronica almost looked offended at the question. “Of course. I always come and support you. I will be honest, I wouldn’t have known it was happening if it wasn’t for Jughead blowing up my phone. You don’t know how shocked I was when I saw that he sent me a text message. I thought the world was ending.”

Cheryl’s hand appeared on Veronica’s shoulder and she pulled her back a little.

“Can I now go back to talking to Betty. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Betty is my best friend, so I get talking priority. Besides she is about to run an important race, so this isn’t quite catching up time.”

The two bickered back and forth. They weren’t each other's biggest fans, but they both loved Betty so they tolerated each other. Most of the time. 

Jughead came up next to her and sighed.

“Can’t believe I have to deal with two spoiled princesses,” his hand dove into his bag and pulled out the earplugs. “This is why I brought these.”

Betty didn’t say anything. Just stared at him, full of an emotion she couldn’t quite name.

Someone coughed to get her attention and she turned to see Archie standing in front of her, looking unsure of himself.

“Just wanted to wish you good luck,” he stepped closer and then hesitated.

Betty smiled. “We’re friends. We can hug,” she reassured him. He smiled back and wrapped her in a big bear hug.

“You’re going to kill it, Betts,” he whispered.

Betty felt overwhelmed with happiness. Happy that all her friends were there. Happy, because it seemed like things were going to work out.

“Thank you, Arch.”

He squeezed her before letting go, so he could help Dilton separate Veronica and Cheryl.

Betty observed her friend group for a while. Her weird, messy, flawed but loving friend group and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Thank you, guys,” she said loud enough so they all turned to her.

“For what?” Cheryl asked.

“For being here and for being my friends,” Betty didn’t care that it sounded overly sentimental, it was what she felt.

Her coach shouted her name, telling her she needed to start warm ups, before any of her friends could respond.

“That’s my que.”

They all nodded and said varying ways of good luck before walking towards the rest of the audience.

“Can we catch up after the game?” Cheryl asked over her shoulder.

Betty smiled apologetically. “I would love to, but I already have plans for after the game.” she said before turning to Jughead who was already looking at her.

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but Betty was faster. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you after the game, Juggie.”

She ran away before he could respond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Betty can be a bit pessimistic, but luckily her friends will always be there for her. Now that everyone is okay and friendly. We can 100% focus on Bughead cuteness.
> 
> Next chapter: Betty is running and Bughead has a date (even if they don't know it).


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For once there are not two months in between chapters. I want to try to post a new chapter each monday until the end of this story. I love writing this but I'm also great at procrastination, so saying that there is a post schedule will hopefully keep me on track.
> 
> I am so thankful to everyone who keeps reading and commenting on this story even with its irregular post schedule.
> 
> You are all awesome!

Jughead stood frozen in his place, because Betty Cooper had just kissed him on the cheek. She had kissed his cheek and he didn’t feel disgust or the urge to push her away. Instead his ears were burning and the skin on his cheek was tingling. Even his stomach was doing weird things and for a moment he thought that he might throw up.

Maybe he was getting sick.

Slowly his brain started registering the sound from around him and he realized that he was standing still in the middle of the field where the athletes were warming up.

When he turned around and started walking towards his friends, he saw Dilton looking at him with a knowing smile. That couldn’t be good.

“I saw that,” he said when Jughead reached them.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Dilton raised an eyebrow. “Maybe we should have the talk soon.”

Jughead snorted, but didn’t reply because he was honestly still shaken up. He sat down on the bench and took a chocolate bar out of his bag. Surely chocolate will make him feel better.

“God those girls are something else,” Archie plopped down next to him, abandoning his place in between Cheryl and Veronica. Even for Riverdale’s own casanova was that pairing too much.

Archie looked at him and knotted his eyebrows together in concern. “Are you okay, Jug? You look weird.”

“He always looks weird,” Reggie said from behind them.

Jughead searched his brain for something witty as a reply, but his brain was absolutely failing him at the moment. It was stuck on the feeling of lips against skin.

“I’m fine,” he grumbled to Archie.

The gang chatted while the runners were getting ready. Jughead avoided looking at the field, instead he completely focused on Archie as he was talking about how he was failing math again.

Eventually Mr. Weatherbee took the stage to introduce the athletes and officially start today’s event.

First were the sprints. The 100, 200 and 400m. The crowd was excited. Cheering the runners on or, in certain cases, cursing at them. Unfortunately for Riverdale, Greendale was dominating. They had won every single race, except for two when it was finally time for the 5k.

Jughead felt nervous, he could only imagine what Betty was feeling.

When he looked towards the start line, he saw Betty scanning the crowd, obviously looking for someone. When their gazes connected she gave him a big smile, her white teeth on full display.

His traitorous heart skipped a beat. It freaking skipped a beat.

“Go Betty! Show those Greendale losers who’s boss!” Veronica yelled with such a volume that Cheryl next to her cried about hearing damage.

The rest of the gang called out other encouragements and Betty gave them a self-assured thumbs up before turning her focus on the track. Gone was the nervous girl in his car, she stood there as if she was a general ready to conquer the world.

Soon the start shot sounded and the runners were off.

Jughead had always found 5k’s boring. It took so long and all you were doing was looking at people running in circles. Only the last few hundred meters were interesting, that was where all the drama happened.

But as he watched Betty run, all his past criticisms vanished. She had shed her training pants and was now wearing running shorts which showed off her legs. Had they always been so long and toned?

“Holy crap,” he heard Reggie say and he was inclined to agree. Although he also felt a little disgusted that he had been having the same thoughts as that neanderthal while Betty was performing an impressive athletic feat.

Still he couldn’t look away. It wasn’t just that she looked great, she looked elegant. Most people resemebled a hippo when they ran, but not Betty. It looked like she was born to do just this. It was so compelling to watch her in her element, to see her do something that she enjoyed and that she was so good at. He would never get bored of that sight.

Betty was second the entire race, just behind a girl from Greendale. But where the other girl started to look tired and slowed down, Betty kept up a steady pace. Slowly overtaking her in the last 500 meters.

The crowd’s cheering became louder and louder, almost to the point of deafening. Veronica and Cheryl had jumped up from their seats and were yelling at the tops of their lungs. The excitement of the crowd seemed to affect Betty who just started running faster. She was now clearly the front runner, but apparently that wasn’t enough. In the last 100 meters she broke out in a sprint that didn’t seem humanly possible.

The sound that erupted when she crossed the finish line was surely heard all the way over in Centreville.

Jughead’s heart was beating so fast as he watched Betty drop to the ground and lay on her back in exhaustion, her teammates running towards her. Somewhere during the race he had stood up and now he was itching to get to her, to congratulate her and ask her how she was feeling.

Betty had turned her head to look at him again and as he watched her lay there sweaty and out of breath with a huge smile on her face and sparkles in her eyes, he thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

 

Turned out that Betty had in fact broken the school record, by 2 full seconds. So, even though Riverdale had lost most of the races and thus had lost this track event, their friends were in high spirits.

Betty was blushing profusely when everyone came running up to her, hugging and congratulating. She got bombarded by flowers, which she quickly dumped by her parents.

Jughead stood back, just watching her. Shy at all the attention that she was getting, but unable to stop smiling at the same time. She was enjoying this. She deserved this.

Veronica threaded her arm through Betty’s. “Let’s go celebrate. My treat!” she exclaimed.

“I’m all sweaty,” Betty laughed while pulling her arm back. “And while I appreciate the offer, I have plans already.”

Veronica raised her eyebrows when Betty started walking towards Jughead. Their entire friend group stopped chatting and just watched the twosome.

“I remember you mentioning buying me Pop’s if I broke the record,” she said.

“We can do that another day, if you’d rather go with…”

“Oh no. Don’t try to get out of it. I’m going to shower and then we’re going to Pop’s,” her confident attitude wavered for a second. “Unless you don’t want to go.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I would love to take you to Pop’s,” he would take her there right now if she demanded. Showers be damned.

“Great,” she gave him a huge smile before heading to the school showers. He had been given so many genuine Betty smiles today, he felt like he was going to combust.  
Everyone was still staring at him. Some looked confused, others had knowing smiles on their faces and Veronica Lodge was glaring at him for some reason. He felt embarrassed, which never happened, and didn’t want to deal with any remarks right now. So he did the only thing he could think of, turn around and walk to his car.

 

20 minutes later Jughead was leaning against the car door. He had been playing a phone game, but he couldn’t concentrate. Now he was tapping his foot, trying to work of some nervous energy. Because he was nervous. He just couldn’t figure out why. All he was going to do was get some dinner with Betty. Nothing special.

But she had ditched all their friends so that she could go with just him. She could have easily invited them along, but she didn’t. And he was glad that she didn’t. But why.

He was a smart guy, he could figure this out. But something in him refused to give it a name.

He was in the middle of this crisis when he heard the school doors open. He turned his head to see Betty walking towards him. She was wearing her usual jeans and t-shirt combo, but she had forgone her ponytail. Now her hair was falling over her shoulders in soft waves. She looked refreshed while still sporting a healthy blush due to her earlier exercise.

And she was glowing. Or maybe that was his imagination.

“Ready to stuff your face,” he asked.

“I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.”

He grimaced. “This is going to hurt my wallet, isn’t it?”

“Now you will know how everyone else feels when they pay for you,” she smiled sweetly while getting in the car.

The drive to Pop’s was short. They kept the conversation light and easy, talking about the races and the ridiculous tracksuit that Mr. Weatherbee was wearing. Neither mentioned his act of kindness or that cheek kiss and Jughead was glad for it. Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal.

Before they knew it, they arrived at the diner. Pop Tate himself was there to greet them when they walked through the doors.

“There’s the top athlete. How did it go?”

Betty smiled shyly. “It went alright. I won.”

“Congratulations, but I heard it went better than just alright.”  
Jughead stepped in before Betty could downplay her achievement. “She broke the school record. She was so fast, even Achilles wouldn’t have been able to keep up with her.”

Pop laughed while Betty’s blush deepened, but even she giggled at his exaggeration.

“And where is the rest, I was expecting the whole gang.”

“Sorry, just us today,” Betty said.

Pop looked intrigued but didn’t say anything more about that. “Okay, well take a booth and I’ll send someone to get your order.”

Jughead chose a booth in the back of the diner, his favourite spot. Betty slid in next to him instead of sitting opposite him, which was what she normally did, but Jughead chose not to mention it. Not when he could smell her kokos shampoo when she was this close.

“You mentioning Achilles reminded me,” Betty said. “Do you already have a partner for the history project?”

“Elizabeth Cooper, are you actually talking about school on this celebratory day. I know your brain is always thinking about grades and extracurriculars, but it can take the day off, you know.”

Betty raised her hands in defense. “I just wanted to ask if you wanted to work together. That’s all.”

He pretended to think about it. “Well, I guess you’re a better option than Archie.”

“Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but I’ll take it.”

She took an object, what looked to be lip gloss, out of her pocket and unscrewed it, the aroma of strawberry hitting his nose. He watched as the lip gloss painted her lips pink and his mouth watered. He was suddenly starved.

At this exact moment a waitress appeared at their table to take their order. Betty rattled off everything she wanted without looking at the menu. The waitress’ eyes widened while she was jotting down the enormous order and then politely asked if there were others joining them later to which Betty just replied no before looking at him.

Jughead gave his usual order, 2 double cheeseburgers, onion rings, extra large fries.

“And a strawberry milkshake,” he added while looking at Betty.

The waitress smiled politely, but started muttering to herself while she walked away.

“You always get a chocolate milkshake,” Betty said.  
Jughead shrugged. “I’m a lover of all milkshakes. I was just in the mood for something else.”

“Hmmm,” was all she replied while pulling out her phone, a text icon displayed on her screen. When she opened it a selfie of Cheryl, Dilton, Nancy and Chuck appeared with a message that read ‘Have to slum it with these guys, because my girl ditched me’. 

Betty giggled and quickly typed a reply before putting her phone back in her pocket.

“So did you know about Cheryl and Dilton? I thought he and Ethel had something?” she asked.

Jughead shrugged. “Dilton and I don’t really talk about that kind of stuff and I think the Ethel thing was just an assumption we made.”

“I can’t believe Cheryl didn’t tell me. I am going to have to grill her for answers soon,” she muttered more to herself than to him.

She let out a breath and he saw her body slump down with exhaustion. She leaned into him, their sides and thighs touching. Her warmth spread over to him and he welcomed it. He rested his arm on the booth behind her and then, because he couldn’t help himself, started playing with her hair. Betty sighed and dropped her head back.

“Tired?” he asked.

She looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. “You have no idea, but I’m mostly really happy. Today was amazing and that’s thanks to you.”

“I didn’t do anything. You were the one on the field. You were incredible today, Betts. Truly,” he said sincerely.

Her eyes became a storm of emotions and it knocked the breath out of his lungs. Their faces were only inches away, they were closer than they’d ever been. His gaze went to her lips. Those full, strawberry covered lips. He swallowed and before he knew what he was doing he felt himself inch closer.

“Here is your order,” a voice interrupted.

Betty and Jughead jumped apart. At their table stood two waitresses, arms filled with plates and amused expressions on their faces.

The moment was gone and Jughead didn’t know what had gotten into him, maybe he was possessed by someone else, surely that explained his behaviour.

The table in front of them got filled up with food, it looked like every item that Pop’s had to offer was ordered.

“Maybe we’ve ordered too much,” Jughead said.

“There’s no such thing as too much food, Jughead Jones,” Betty smiled at him.

He grinned back. “A girl after my own heart,” he said before they both attacked their foods. Both starved in different ways.

\-------

On the other side of town, Cheryl was sitting next to Dilton, pondering.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that Betty just left us,” she asked the table, which also included Nancy and Chuck.

The other three looked at each other and then replied in unison. “No.”

“Didn’t you see the way those two were looking at each other,” Nancy said when she saw Cheryl’s confused look.

“Jughead was so intensely focused on her during the 5k, he was muttering encouragements under his breath. Normally he just plays phone games, but today he looked mesmerized,” Chuck added.

“And,” Dilton said. “he orchestrated this whole thing just for Betty. When have you ever known Jughead to go so far out of his way for someone else.”

“Are you guys insinuating that…” she looked around and they all nodded. “Oh my god, that’s so weird.”

“I think they would be cute together,” Nancy shrugged. “And Jughead might be good for Betty.”

“God knows that Betty will be good for Jughead,” Dilton said.

“Do you think they know?” Cheryl asked.

Chuck shook his head. “They are completely oblivious. It’s kind of cute, but also infuriating to see two people who are so smart be so dumb about their own feelings.”

“In that case, maybe they need a nudge in the right direction.”

“More like a shove,” Dilton muttered.

Cheryl’s gaze locked with Nancy’s and she knew the girl was thinking the same thing.

“Maybe a girls night could help Betty see the light,” she said.

“And we could have a talk with Jughead,” Chuck nodded to Dilton.

“Sounds like a plan,” Cheryl raised her glass for a toast and the others followed her.

“To our new favourite odd couple,” she toasted.

They clinked their glasses and took a sip. Nancy started chatting about something that had happened at school, but Cheryl was already planning double dates with Betty and Jughead in her head. 

This was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the slow pace into romantic territory. Jughead is just so stubborn, I had to get the friends involved. These two characters won't admit anything to themselves.
> 
> Also I realize that Betty breaking the school record by being two seconds faster isn't believable, but this is the Archie Comics. So realism isn't my biggest priority. I actively try to keep the comic feel alive by, for example, making them eat insane amounts of food.
> 
> Next chapter: Friend talks and history projects.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to be written. Apparently a new job combined with anxiety attacks doesn't make for a good writing mood. But we got here somehow.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who read and commented on the last chapter. I appreciate it so much and I will try to be better at replying. But you are all lovely.
> 
> Enjoy!

Betty was sitting at Jughead’s desk flipping through her history textbook. She had a marker in her hand and the list of of project requirements lay on the desk before her with various notes written on it.

“What about ancient greece as a subject?” she asked.

When she got no response, she looked towards Jughead who was lying on his bed with his history book covering his face. Betty heaved an irritated sigh. She was not in a good mood, she was stressed because she had a lot on her plate lately which included several school projects and the organization of the Riverdale fair in a few weeks, so she had wanted to get a headstart on this project today. But now head was hurting and her neck was stiff with tension. She honestly wanted to be done quickly, so she could go home and lay in her bed, before she had to go to the sleepover Cheryl had organised.

All in all, the boy’s laziness was not appreciated.

“An actual answer would be nice, Jug?” she snapped.

Jughead lifted the book when he heard her tone, an almost scared expression on his face. “Everything alright, Betts?”

“Yes, I just want to get something done. At the very least decide on a topic today.”

Jughead watched her warily, it wasn’t often that she acted frustrated with him. “Okay, so ancient greece. It’s a solid topic, but also a little overdone.”

Betty rolled her eyes. “Well, what do you suggest?” she flinched at her own tone, she really wasn’t in a good mood. “Sorry, Jug. I’m just stressed and I’m pretty sure I’m getting sick, that’s why I’m being so bitchy,” she stretched her neck trying to alleviate some of the pain that was mostly creating her foul mood.

“Is your neck hurting,” Jughead asked.

Betty nodded defeated, she slumped down his chair a little. “And I have a headache,” she sounded a whiny, but that was how she was feeling. Maybe she should just call it a day.

Jughead watched her with concern and then patted the space in front of him. “Come here,” he said.

“Why?”

“Just come here and I will suggest something for our subject,” he was now sitting straight against his headboard, leaving enough space for Betty to sit on the bed. She didn’t know what he was going to do, but just shrugged and plopped down in front of him.  
Jughead made a circle motion with his hand. “Turn around,”

Betty squinted her eyes at him, but did as she was told.

“Okay,” she said when she was sitting comfortably. “So what were you…” she stopped when she felt his hands on her neck and shoulders, expertly applying pressure on her tense muscles. His fingers trailed across her skin, leaving goosebumps in his wake, trying to find the knots so he could untie them. Her mouth opened slightly and the sound that came out could only be described as a moan. It felt like heaven.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” she asked while bending her head forward giving him more space to work with. This wasn’t just the random massaging that her mom or dad sometimes offered, he knew what he was doing and she was thanking the heaven’s for it.

“I always gave my mom massages when she was stressed,” she heard the satisfied smile in his voice, but she didn’t blame him. She was openly responding very well to him.

“I am keeping you around.”

They sat in silence for a minute with the only sounds being Betty’s soft sighs and sometimes a wince when he hit a particular painful spot. For a while the only thing Betty could think about were Jughead’s hands and the wonderful things they were doing, she revelled in the feeling of tension leaving her body. She imagined herself three months back and how weird it would be if Jughead had started massaging her neck back then. Only now it wasn’t weird anymore, maybe surprising but not weird. Something had changed between them and physical affection is not a hurdle anymore for them, it was comfortable. Jughead himself now initiated it.

“So, history,” Jughead said, pulling her out of her thoughts. “What about the vikings or maybe a focus on norse mythology. It is really interesting and a little bit more original.”

“What do you know about norse mythology?” Betty said skeptically.

“Well every problem is either caused by Loki or has to be solved by Loki and by the way Loki is Odin’s brother not Thor’s, the marvel movies lied to us. And every story ends with Thor punching someone. That’s the gist of norse mythology.”

Betty snorted. “Yeah, you convinced me.”

Jughead pulled his hands away and she was about to protest when he hands her a book. It was simply titled norse mythology. 

“Here you sarcastic brat, I have been reading this and I am really enjoying it,” he said.

Betty studied the book, opening it up to read a little. At least that was her intention, but then Jughead pulled the elastic from her hair and started running his hands over her head. Slowly he dragged his fingers from the top of her hairline all the way to her neck, lightly scratching her scalp in the process. The sensations this brought were incredible, it was like he pulled the pain from her head. At the same time, the rest of her body felt incredibly sensitive, her arms were covered in goosebumps and she was very aware of his body, only inches away. This boy could do things to her. For a brief second she wondered what else his hands could do, but she stopped those thoughts immediately.

“Oh my god,” she breathed.

“I hope that means it feels good.”

“So good, Jug. You could do this professionally,” she answered.

“And actually touch people for a living. No thanks,” she could hear the disgust in his voice. She giggled, maybe it was just her he was okay being close to and that made her feel strangely pleased.

Jughead continued his ministrations while Betty was pretending to read the book. Eventually he rested his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them.

“How are you feeling now?” 

“Relaxed.”

She looked over his shoulder to smile at him which he returned “Good. Now let me make a suggestion. How about we watch vikings on netflix.”

She leveled him with an unimpressed look. “Was this all a strategy, so that you don’t have to do schoolwork?”

“Come on, Betts,” he slumped down against his headboard again and stretched his legs next to her. “You’re sick. So take it easy. We can get in the historical mood by watching this.” 

He did look very comfortable laying on his bed like that. Betty got a sudden longing to cuddle into his side. Surely that was crossing a line. But Jughead had been the one to initiate physical contact lately, he even hugged her that night at Pop’s. The same night he had been staring at her lips.

She sighed. “This is the same as when you said that playing assassin's creed taught you about the renaissance.”

“Leonardo Da Vinci is in it.”

She shook her head and decided to let go of her worries for once. Maybe it was okay to take it a bit easy. She scooted backwards until she was against the headboard too.

“Just so you know, you are going to have to work extra hard next week,” she said.

“That’s fine,” Jughead replied as he placed his laptop on his lap, the first episode ready to be played.

Betty looked at him for a few seconds before she threw all caution to the wind and laid her head on his shoulder. She felt him tense up for a moment, but then he wrapped his own arm around her and pulled her even tighter against him. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and let herself completely relax in Jughead’s embrace.

They watched three episodes in that position.

 

At night, Betty was once again laying on a bed that was not her own. This one, however, was covered in red, silk sheets and expensive pillows. She was wearing pajamas that were not her own, she had a face mask on and Cheryl was painting her nails. It wasn’t bad.

Cheryl had organised a girls night at her house. Midge, Nancy and Ethel were also present and the girls were all enjoying the luxuries that Cheryl provided.

“This color looks so good on you,” Cheryl exclaimed.

Betty lazily raised her head and looked at her toes. Of course they were now bright red. “You think everyone looks good in red.”

Cheryl looked scandalized. “That’s not true. Very few people can pull it off, but you, my girl, definitely can.”

Betty grinned. She was feeling so much better, partly because her headache was finally gone, partly because she had had a lot of fun with Jughead that morning and partly because she was happy to be spending time with the girls. But there was one girl missing from the night.

“Why isn’t Veronica here?” It’s true that Cheryl and Veronica don’t always get along, but she was always invited when there is a girls night. She was going to be pissed when she finds out she wasn’t present.

When she was met with silence, she sat up straight on the bed to find Cheryl and Nancy glancing at each other.

“We wanted to talk about some things that would probably go better if she wasn’t present,” Nancy said.

“And what is that?”

“Romance,” Cheryl replied sheepishly.

Betty squinted her eyes and looked at her friends. “Romance,” she repeated slowly, a sense of dread filling her stomach.

Midge spoke up. “Well, of course. We are girls who are having a sleepover. We are going to gossip about boys. What else did you expect?”

“Okay,” Betty said suspiciously, feeling like she had walked into a trap. She turned to her redheaded friend. “Let’s start with the fact that you are dating Dilton and didn’t tell me.” the hurt clear in her voice.

Cheryl gave her a guilty smile. “I’m sorry, I was planning to tell you. Life just got in the way, I guess and we rarely see each other. Which is something that we have to change.”

Betty understood, her life had been so crazy lately she hadn’t thought about calling Cheryl or meeting up with her. She made a mental note to herself to be a better friend. “You are forgiven, but I was very shocked. No offense, but I could have never imagined you falling for a guy like Dilton. How did that start?”

To her surprise, Cheryl actually blushed and avoided her eyes. “Trust me, no one was more surprised than me. We met online and we just started flirting. I had no idea who he was in real life.”

“Met online? Like on a dating site?” Midge asked.

“No, we both play the same MMO. As in an online game,” she explained when she was met with blank stares.

“You play video games,” Nancy asked.

“A little known secret, but Cheryl Blossom is a total nerd,” Betty grinned. It’s a surprising fact about the rich heiress that only her closest friends know, she was obsessed with video games and comic books and had even tried to lure Betty into playing d&d with her.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Shut up. But yes, I play games and that is how Dilly and I first connected. We really hit it off and I had a total crush on him before I even knew who he was. We were both so surprised when we finally met each other, but at that point it didn’t matter anymore because we were both head over heels.”

Betty studied her friend and the fond look on her face. She had always known Cheryl to be fierce and determined, which was such a contrast to the softness with which she spoke now.

“Are you happy?” she asked.

Cheryl looked at her and the answer was on her face. “I’m so happy.”

Betty smiled. “Then I’m happy for you.”

Her friend reached for her hand and squeezed it in what Betty knew to be gratitude. The two girls were very different, but they had always been a constant support for each other. So Betty giving her blessing for Cheryl’s relationship meant something.

Opposite of them Midge nudged Ethel. “How is it going with your mystery guy?”

Betty’s head whipped around to look at Ethel. “You are also seeing someone? Why does no one tell me anything?”

Her friend looked at her with a pained expression. “You already had so much on your mind, so we didn’t want to bother you with our love lives when your own was not in a good place.”

That honestly hurt. The idea that her friends didn’t want to tell her, because they thought her own life was such a mess. It must have showed on her face, because Nancy put her hand on her shoulder. 

“We just didn’t want to bother you.”

“It isn’t a bother. You are my friends and I want you to tell me everything. The happy and the bad.”

The girls shared guilty looks with each other.

Betty shook her head. “Now that that is clear. Tell me about your new man, Ethel.”

“It is very new and I’m still figuring it out, but I’m liking where it is going.”

“Does he have a name?”

“You wouldn’t know who it is if I gave it to you, he’s not from Riverdale.”

“But he was here last weekend right,” Midge said. “I saw you two walking. He is dark and tall, looks kinda like a bad boy.”

Ethel smiled shyly at her feet but didn’t give anymore information.

“Now what about you, Betty,” Cheryl asked.

“Me? I gave up on boys. For now at least,”

Cheryl looked at her like she didn’t believe a word she said.

“I’m just not looking for a relationship after the whole Archie fiasco. Besides I don’t need a man,” she declared with confidence. She had discovered that relationships were tiring and she just didn’t need that in her life at the moment.

“You might not need one, but maybe you would like one,” Nancy said. “Relationships can definitely be dramatic and even hurtful, but with the right person they can be quite nice. Just someone to cuddle with and talk to. That’s not so bad is it.”

That didn’t sound bad at all, but Betty knew better than anyone that just wasn’t the reality. She had been hurt really badly by Archie, more than she initially realised and she just didn’t feel like she could put herself in such a vulnerable position again.

Cheryl must have seen her expression, because she gently put her hand on her knee and said. “We are not trying to push you into anything, but maybe a new relationship could be just the thing you need,” she smiled sweetly. “Haven’t you been getting closer with a certain beanie wearing boy?”

“Jughead?” she asked wondering if Cheryl was really suggesting she should date the most ineligible bachelor in Riverdale

Cheryl nodded seriously. “You two were looking very sweet at the race the other day.”

Betty laughed. “Please tell Jughead that and see how far he runs.”

“I don’t think he will run.”

“Betty,” Midge said. “Haven’t things been changing between you two? From an outsiders point of view, you two look like you have gotten real close.”

“We’ve always been close,” Betty’s voice wavered, because even she knows that’s not completely true. Yes they have always been friends, but not in the way they were now. Her mind goes back to them lying on his bed together, wrapped up around each other, watching a tv show. She could see how that wouldn’t look friendly from an outsider's view. But it felt natural and nice and honestly she didn’t want to examine those feelings right now.

“It could be a more laid back version of a relationship, because, you know, it involves Jughead. I don’t think he could get stressed out if he tried,” Ethel smiled. “But I think Jughead is capable of loving someone with all his heart.”

Betty was inclined to agree. Even though it was weird to think about him in a romantic relationship, she had seen his relationships with other people and he tended to devote himself to them. Of course, he didn’t want others to know he actually cared all that much, so he played it cool. But Betty had seen him.

“Just think about it, girl,” Cheryl said. “Don’t let a good thing pass you by just because you didn’t think it was a possibility.”

“Can you see Jughead in an honest to god relationship?”

Cheryl shrugged. “Not really, but if anyone were to make it happen it would be you. Besides I have seen weirder things. I mean, I’m dating Dilton Doiley for heaven’s sake. You never know what potential someone holds, even a lazy glutton like Jughead Jones might surprise you.”

Betty hadn’t thought about Jughead as a potential boyfriend, because the idea was so foreign and she truly meant it when she said she didn’t want a relationship. However the looks both Cheryl and Ethel had on their faces when they talked about their respective boyfriends filled Betty with envy. They had looked soft and affectionate and most of all happy. Betty wanted that, she wanted the kind of romance that evoked those emotions not ugly ones.

A romantic relationship with Jughead Jones. She locked the thought away, to be unpacked at a later moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People who will massage your neck when you feel tense are the absolute best and Betty should just marry Jughead (I wrote this chapter with neckpain, so I was living vicariously through Betty).
> 
> Next chapter: boy's talk, riverdale faire preparations and Reggie will be there.


	11. Chapter 11

Jughead was spending his free period in the library. He wanted some peace and quiet from the noisy world out there. For some reason, he found everyone extra annoying today and took this time to retreat. 

Unfortunately the world had different plans.

Chuck and Dilton appeared in front of him, both wearing grins that meant trouble and Jughead wasn’t in the mood.

“Jug, can we talk to you,” Chuck asked.

Jughead grabbed his chocolate milk from the table and took a sip. “Depends. What about?”

“Girls.”

He inhaled his drink and started coughing violently, which made the librarian glare in their direction. Once he was finished he looked at his friends wondering if they were playing a prank on him, but they just patiently waited for his answer.

“Not interested.”

Dilton sighed. “Come on, it’s just a conversation. Here, this will make it easier for you to endure,” he produced a chocolate bar from his pocket and slid it over to Jughead. Then both boys took seats opposite him at the table and folded their hands in front of them. It started to look like an interrogation.

Jughead glared at them, but took the candy anyway. “I don’t know what there is to talk about. I don’t like girls.”

“Maybe, but you like Betty,” Chuck shot back.

Jughead raised his eyebrows. “Is that what you are here for? Of course I like her, she’s my friend.”

“That’s not what we mean.”

Jughead was a smart kid, he knew what they wanted to talk about, but that wasn’t a conversation he was willing to have right now.

Truth is in the last few days, he had started thinking about his conflicting feelings for Betty. How he felt at ease with her and actually wanted her close. How he missed her and sometimes ended up thinking about her in the middle of the night. All these things left him confused. In theory, he knew what it meant when someone acted and thought like that. But he didn’t know what it meant for him. And he didn’t need his friends to dig their noses in his business.

Dilton took advantage of his silence. “Here is my theory. You’ve always claimed you hate romance and aren’t interested in girls. Which was true until recently. Betty became the exception and now with Archie out of the way, you are starting to get feelings for her. What do you think?”

Jughead stared at him blankly. “I think it is none of your business. I think you guys spend way too much time thinking about my non existent love life.”

Chuck and Dilton shared a look that bordered on exasperated. “Look all we are saying is, think about it. Maybe take her on a date and see how it goes,” Chuck suggested.

“Betty is a great girl who deserves the world and for some reason you seem to be the guy who can give that to her,” Dilton added.

Without waiting for an answer they both stood up, having decided that was all they needed to say and that the conversation was now over. But as they started walking away Chuck put his hand on Jughead’s shoulder.

“Don’t let labels scare you, Jug,” and then they were gone.

Jughead scoffed. His friends thought themselves to be so smart and helpful. Well, it didn’t concern them and Jughead wasn’t going to let them influence his thoughts or decisions. He wasn’t going to think about what they said or Betty in general.

Which was easier said than done.

The rest of the day he was feeling off and he had a hard time paying attention in class. He accidentally sat next to Veronica during english which got him some weird stares and he almost let Archie steal his fries during lunch. Almost.

When the redhead invited him to Pop’s that afternoon, he declined. Determining that he better get home and take a nap. He would surely feel better afterwards.

But several hours later, sleep eluded him. He was staring at the ceiling, willing his body to fall asleep, but everytime he closed his eyes he saw the same girl. He saw Betty sitting at his desk, he saw her lying on his bed. He saw her at Pop’s, sitting next to him, applying lip gloss and smiling. He saw her at the library, he saw her lying on the ground after she had won the race. His mind couldn’t let go of her and he didn’t know what to do.

He got out of bed and sneaked downstairs, making sure not to wake everyone. All this could probably be resolved with some good food, but as he was surveying the leftovers in the refrigerator, he found that he wasn’t really hungry. Now all this nonsense was affecting his appetite, which was unacceptable. 

Obviously something had to change, he was driving himself crazy and Jughead didn’t care for that. But was asking Betty out the answer? Would that mean he would be her boyfriend? Did she even want that? 

After giving up on a midnight snack and giving Hotdog a big hug, he went back upstairs and threw himself in bed again. He closed his eyes once more and let himself imagine what it could be like. He thought of him and Betty spending time together, which he liked and would not want to give up. He thought of her pretty face, the sparkle in her eyes when he made her laugh and her full lips which she painted in different shades of pink. He imagined what they would taste like and whether he would enjoy kissing her. 

Mostly he imagined her being near him while they were reading or playing games. Them holding hands while walking Hotdog or going to the park with Jellybean. Her lying next to him while taking a nap on a sunny day.

Slowly his body started to relax and the tension and weird emotions he had been feeling drifted away, leaving only peace. He fell asleep while dreaming of Betty.

 

The next day at lunch, he was sitting beside her, listening to her talk to Veronica about the Riverdale fair that was finally going to be there next week. Betty had been freaking out over the organisation for weeks, so it was a relief for everyone in their friend group that it was almost over. But he only listened to half of what she was saying, his thoughts were occupied.

After waking up that morning he had made a decision. A radical decision, for him, he was going to ask Betty out on an honest to god date. If only to quiet his own mind. He thought it would be easy, he always went after what he wanted and he had made up his mind that he wanted to spend time with Betty. Only now Jughead found himself to be nervous. Jughead Jones never got nervous, because he didn’t care what anyone thought. Except for one person.

He was gathering his courage to speak to Betty when a voice from behind him spoke first.

“Betty can I talk to you?”

Jughead turned around to find, who else, Reggie Mantle standing there. Only something was different, his usual air of arrogance was gone. He stood there with his hands in his pockets and shuffling his feet, he looked nervous. Jughead could relate and the fact that he could relate meant he knew exactly what Reggie was going to ask. He felt his stomach turning.

“Sure, Reg. What’s up?” Betty asked.

Reggie looked at the full table in front of him, everyone now staring at him. “In private?”

Betty looked confused, but stood up and followed him anyway. They walked to the far end of the cafetaria and talked there, in direct sight of Jughead.

“What is going on there,” Veronica asked.

“He is asking her out,” Archie answered. 

Of course he was. Of course, when Jughead finally decided to ask Betty Cooper out, Reggie Mantle of all people ruined his plans. 

He shoved his plate to the middle of the table and crossed his arms, feeling like a child whose candy got stolen.

“Everything okay, Jug,” Moose asked.

“Yeah, I’m just not hungry, you can have it if you want,” that made everyone turn and look at him, except for Moose, who had already started on the fries.

“You must be really sick, if you are refusing to eat,” Veronica observed.

“It’s not that big of a deal, just let it go,” he growled back in response. His mood was officially ruined. He made eye contact with Dilton who just smiled knowingly at him.

Just then Betty came back alone and sat down next to him, her thigh touching his, just barely. Jughead both wanted to push it closer and move it away, so he just let it sit there.

“What did he ask, Betty,” Veronica immediately barreled in.

“He asked me along to the movies this saturday,” she answered nonchalantly and started eating her fries. 

Everyone waited for a few seconds before Veronica pushed the issue. “And you said?”

“I told him I wasn’t interested in dating and declined his offer.”

Jughead saw everyone at the table breathe a sigh of relief. If people were too invested in his love life, they were absolutely obsessed with Betty’s. He himself didn’t know what to make of that answer. Of course, he was glad she wasn’t going out with Reggie, if only because Reggie was a jerk who didn’t deserve her attention. But she had said she didn’t want to date, which he knew. She had declared herself single for the rest of the year, so why was he so disappointed to hear it now. What world were they living in that Jughead wanted to date and Betty wanted to stay single.

Jughead just kept his mouth shut and stared out in front of him, while the rest of the table moved on with a different topic of conversation.

He decided it was best that he avoided Betty for the rest of the day. Just so his brain, and his heart, could have a break.

But the world, once again, had different plans.

He was walking towards the school doors, eager to escape the building when someone grabbed his arm and started walking alongside him. He knew without looking that it was Betty. Her coconut shampoo, which had been haunting him for days, was now overwhelming.

“Hey stranger,” she said. “I feel like I’ve barely seen you these past few days.”

“I sat next to you at lunch.”

“I mean just the two of us,” Betty skipped ahead a few steps and stopped right in front of him, effectively blocking his path. “Do you wanna come over. I just tried this new pie recipe and I think it’s a new favourite, but I need approval of my favourite glutton.”

Jughead shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “I don’t think I...” his words died on his tongue when Betty grabbed his hand and looked up at him with those big eyes. What an idiot he was, thinking he could ever deny her anything. The fact that she was a head shorter than him and looking up through her lashes wasn’t helping his case.

“Come on, Juggie. I promise it will be the best pie you ever had,” her voice sounded even sweeter than usual.

Jughead, feeling absolutely helpful, just nodded and let himself be dragged along by Betty. The fact that she was holding his hand the entire walk to her house, was something he wasn’t going to think about.

Before he knew it, he was sitting at the Cooper’s dining table with a piece of warm apple pie in front of him.

“I know it’s simple, but nothing better than the classic american apple pie,” Betty said.

Even though his appetite hadn’t returned yet, Jughead took a big bite of the food and was surprised by the flavours that exploded on his tongue.

“This is great, Betts.”

Betty smiled victoriously. “The secret ingredient is love,” she said with a wink. Even though it was meant to be joking, Jughead felt his face heat up and decided to stuff more food into it, so he wouldn’t say something stupid.

“Actually, it’s custard and lots of cinnamon,” Betty continued. “I’m glad you like it. Now that you are properly bribed, let’s talk.”

That made Jughead feel cautious, she had lured him into a trap. “About what?”

Betty looked at him for a few seconds with her brows furrowed like she was trying to figure something or him out. “Something is different,” she mumbled and then more clearly she asked, “have you been avoiding me?”

“Of course not. We see each other everyday,” he sounded defensive even to his own ears.

“I know, it’s just..” Betty looked down at her hands and sighed. “Maybe it’s me being stupid, but you have felt distant these past few days. We have been spending a lot of time together and I thought maybe you have gotten tired of me.”

He hated how sad and insecure she looked in that moment and to think it was because of him. He had been more distant, but that’s because he was trying to figure out his own tangled up thoughts and emotions, he never thought about how it might affect Betty.

Without anymore thinking, he grabbed one of her hands. “I don’t think I could ever get tired of you, Betty Cooper.”

She inspected their hands together, his thumb was rubbing reassuring circles on the back of hers and then lifted her head to meet his gaze. “But you find people exhausting,” she said with a tiny smile.

“Not you,” his answer came fast and confident. 

She looked at him like she was searching for an answer, those big eyes trying to reach inside his mind and at that moment he would have let her. 

“I wanna ask you something,” she said.

“Anything.”

She hesitated for a moment and he squeezed her hand in encouragement.

“Do you wanna go to the fair with me?”

Jughead raised his eyebrows. Why was she acting so weird just to ask him to come along to an event he was already going to.

“Of course, Betts. We go every year.”

Betty bit her lip and tried to convey something with her gaze, but Jughead wasn’t getting it. “I thought this year, maybe we could go together. Just the two of us.”

Oh.

Betty had beaten him to the punch. 

He twisted her hand around, so he could link their fingers together. “It’s a date,” he said.

“A date,” Betty breathed. She looked like she couldn’t believe that word had come out of his mouth.

“A date,” he repeated once more for good measure and the smile he received in return was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are finally getting to the romantic part of this story, it felt a long time coming and I hope you all are going to enjoy it.
> 
> Next chapter: Development!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am overwhelmed by the love this fic has been getting. This is my first ever story and while I enjoy the act of writing, I don't like my writing. It's not good and I don't know many of the basics. Every time I post a chapter I do it with great reluctance. Because I want to get better, I decided to sign up for classes to actually learn about grammar and punctuation etc. But the fact that even at this beginning stage, there are people loving this story and actually looking forward to it, is mindblowing to me. So thank you for your amazing comments. You are all awesome.
> 
> Okay, enough ranting. I wanted to make this one extra sweet. Enjoy!

Betty was freaking out.

She stared at her closet, which looked like a bomb had exploded in it. She had tried on all her cutest clothes, but she hadn’t seen anything that she liked and she was going out in two hours.

She was going to the fair. With Jughead. On a date.

She fell back on her bed and sighed dramatically. What did she get herself into?

She had asked him to come along with her, not fully realising that she was asking him out at the time. She just wanted to spent time with him and only him. 

But she had no idea what to expect from this so called date, she had no idea what Jughead expected from it. Would he even care what she looked like, she had never seen Jughead notice anyone’s appearance before.

Whether or not he cared, Betty wanted to look good today and she wanted to have fun.

She reached for her phone and thought about calling Veronica, to ask her for advice. She and Veronica hadn’t talked in a while, not about personal things at least and they avoided any topic that had to do with each other’s love lifes. So the thought of calling her and telling she was going on a date with Jughead and she needed clothing advice was both terrifying and hilarious. She didn’t think Veronica could handle that level of shock.

All of a sudden her phone lit up with a text message notification, it was from Jughead.

“See you in a bit. I’ll be the guy in front of the hotdog stand wearing a weird hat,” it read.

Betty giggled. She shouldn’t worry, it was Jughead.

She eyed her closet again and decided against a cute dress that would show off her legs. Even though it was still warm enough outside to wear it, it wasn’t the most practical choice when there were physical activities on the fair. Instead she went with high waisted skinny jeans, that also showed off her legs, and a crop top. It was comfortable and she looked good.

She decided to wear her hair down. Jughead liked her hair, she knew that for a fact, he was always playing with it and had taken her ponytail down more times than she could count. For a moment she imagined him running his fingers through it and she shivered just from her imagination.

Truth is, she hadn’t thought about dating Jughead before she asked him to come with her. She didn’t know if she had actual feelings for him, or at least hadn’t allowed herself to think about said feelings. But her body reacted to him in such an extreme way, it was hard to ignore. She started to crave his touch and he had been more willing to give it lately. 

So she wore cute clothes and let her hair down, hopefully tempting him to come close and show some of that rare physical affection that she was quickly becoming addicted to.

 

When Betty arrived at the open field that was now populated with food stands, a huge ferris wheel and all sorts of activities, she sighed happily. The Riverdale fair was one of the biggest events every year and the whole town attended. She had been part of the organization team this year and it had stressed her out, because there had been delays and a lot of other drama. But they had pulled it together the last second and the result was amazing.

She scanned the faces of the people and as expected saw a lot of familiar ones. Cheryl and Dilton were in the line for the tunnel of love, Reggie was bothering the poor girl attending the kissing booth, and Archie, Veronica, Moose and Midge were trying their hands at the claw machines and, judging by their looks, failing at it. There were plenty of other Riverdale High students she recognized and teachers and parents. Even Pop Tate had torn himself away from the diner to take a look.

And right in front of the Hotdog stand was Jughead, with his hands in his pockets and kicking the pebbles in front of him. Betty took this moment to observe him. He looked the same as usual, he wore his beanie, an S shirt and jeans, but he also looked different or maybe Betty was looking at him with different eyes.

Suddenly her stomach flipped and she felt nervous, nauseatingly nervous and she wondered, once again, what she had gotten herself into. Before she could fully panic, Jughead spotted her and waved, taking away her chance to escape. So she put on her big girl shoes and started walking towards him.

“Hey, how long have you been waiting,” she asked.

Jughead looked a little self conscious. “About fifteen minutes, I got here a bit early.”

“Why didn’t you hang out with the rest of the guys. They are all here.”

He shrugged. “I thought it was going to be just the two of us today. Unless you want to hang out with them.”

Betty could already feel a few eyes on them, whether it were the eyes of her friends or other classmates, she didn’t know and didn’t care to find out.

“We are completely on the same page. Just the two of us today,” she wondered if she sounded too eager.

But Jughead seemed satisfied with that answer and looked around them. “It looks great, Betty. You did an awesome job with this.”

“Thanks, but I just helped organize where everything should go. I didn’t build it or anything.”

“You could have told me you single handedly build the ferris wheel and I would have believed you,” he gave her a half grin and her heart instantly reacted.

“What do you wanna do today? I’m guessing you want to try every food type they have available here,” she started walking and Jughead quickly followed after her.

“Eating is never a bad way to spend your day,” Jughead commented.

They walked past the shooting stand and Betty stopped Jughead. “I’m great at this game, let’s play,” she batted her eyes at Jughead and he laughed.

“Only if you win me teddy bear,” he said.

They paid the guy manning the booth 5 bucks and got their fake guns ready. Jughead went first and even though he wasn’t bad, he at least hit the target, he also wasn’t great. Betty tried to help him by adjusting his stance, but, judging from the sigh he let out when she put her hands on his back to right his posture, she wasn’t helping much at all.

“I think you are trying to distract me, Betts,” he commented to which Betty put up her hands and reluctantly kept them to herself for the rest of his turn.

All of a sudden, Betty felt watched and she looked around to find many people staring at them. There were Nancy and Chuck who looked on with grins on their faces and a few classmates who were whispering while looking in their directions. But it was the laser focus with which Veronica was watching their every move and the look of betrayal on her face that unnerved her and right behind her was Archie who looked sad for some reason.

There was going to be a tiring conversation with those two later.

“It’s your turn,” Jughead apparently didn’t notice that they were being watched by dozens of eyes or he didn’t care. He just handed her the gun with a smile. “Show me how it’s done.”

Betty was good at this game, she almost always hit bulls eye and was often accused of cheating.

Now she felt unsettled for some reason and as she took aim, she knew something was off. She shot and completely missed the target, something that never happened to her. The guy in the booth snorted and Betty felt a pang of irritation. She shook her head and tried again and she missed again and again.

“Maybe let your boyfriend take the next shot if you want a price, sweetheart,” the guy commented and Betty was so embarrassed by her poor shooting that she didn’t even have time to register the fact he called Jughead her boyfriend.

“I’m normally really good,” she muttered to herself. 

After her round was done, she threw down another five dollars determined to show Jughead that she could hit the damn thing. He probably felt her frustration and put his hand on her shoulder, which was the wrong move. Now her body was busy reacting to his touch and thus she was even more unbalanced, so she took a step away from him, trying to get into the right headspace. But it didn’t work and at the end she was so frustrated and embarrassed, she just threw the gun on the counter, grabbed Jughead’s arm and took off.

“There was clearly something wrong with the gun,” she grumbled.

Jughead stopped her by putting his hands on her shoulders. “It’s okay. It’s just a game and I know what a clear shot you are. We’ve been here before.”

This was true, they’ve been going to this fair since they were toddlers and Betty always showed off her various skills. Still, she needed to win something today, needed to show him. Her eyes landed on the skeeball booth.

“Let’s go play that,” she said while speeding towards it.

But skeeball had the same result, she missed most of her shots. And by the time she tried, and failed, at the milk bottle game, she could feel the eyes of many people burning in the back of her head. She felt so defeated and embarrassed and just stupid.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” she said quietly.

She walked quickly away from the booth, away from all her friends watching her and away from Jughead. There were two thoughts racing through her head, why was she reacting this way to a stupid game and why couldn’t she get it right.

A hand on her arm stopped her and she knew without looking up that Jughead had followed.

“What is going on, Betty? What was that all about?”

Betty looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes. She felt embarrassed, both about her failure to succeed and at her reaction.

“I wanted to impress you,” her voice was so small, she wondered if he could hear it. It was true, she really wanted to impress Jughead. To make sure he was enthralled by her and just her. It was such an immediate reaction and she didn’t like it, at all.

“Are you kidding me,” Jughead laughed but there was no humor in the sound at all and when she looked up she found him shaking his head. “You are the most impressive woman in this town. You can fix any car, you run faster than anyone I know, you excel at pool, at video games and boardgames, you are set to be valedictorian and you bake a mean cake.”

“Is that why you agreed to come with me today, for more cake?” she tried to sound light, but honestly her heart was beating twice as fast at his words.

“No,” his answer was serious, but he cracked a smile a second later. “But it doesn’t hurt.” He winked at her playfully and she was swore she swooned. Who told Jughead Jones he was allowed to wink?

“You can do all that and so much more,” he continued his rant. “And none of that has anything to do with how impressive and good you are.”

Betty had to look down again, because she couldn’t handle his heavy stare and she was pretty sure she was blushing. She didn’t know how to react to those kind words, so she just stayed quiet.

Jughead sighed. “What is really going on, Betts? You don’t seem happy at all, even though this is supposed to be an enjoyable experience. Am I doing something wrong?”

Betty’s head snapped back up. “No, don’t even think that. This is all on me and the mess in my head. You are great,” she felt ashamed that she made Jughead question himself, just because she couldn’t let go of some weird baggage.

“Then tell me about what is going on inside that head of yours. What is it that you want?”

I want to be number one, a voice inside her head said, but that wasn’t right. She didn’t want to be number one in general, she wanted to be someone’s number one, someone's first choice. She wanted that so badly and the realization shocked her. Her eyes started to sting and she felt her lip tremble as she was trying to form a reply. Oh no, she was going to cry.

She blinked rapidly and shook her head, so jughead couldn’t see the tears pooling.

“I’m nervous,” her voice wavered. “Everyone is looking at us like we are zoo animals and they want us to perform. I feel their expectations and I don’t know how to act normal under all that attention. I want to be a good date to you, but I don’t know how normal dates work.”

A second later, she felt Jughead’s arms pulling her towards him and she gratefully buried her face in his shirt, inhaling his scent a little too eagerly.

“Can I tell you a secret?” he whispered, his mouth was right by her ear and his warm breath left goosebumps on her neck. As a response she hugged his waist tightly and nodded against his shoulder.

“I’m nervous too. I have no idea how to do this and what it will mean for the future,” he exhaled loudly. “I am terrified.”

He took a step back and Betty almost whined at the lost connection, but he cupped her cheeks in his hands and turned up her face so she was looking him straight in the eye.

“But I realized that is stupid,” he continued. “It’s me, Betts. It’s us. We are going to do this the way we want to, not the way people expect. So let’s just have fun. There is no one I’d rather spend this day with.” He smiled at her in such a boyish way, her breath felt very shallow all of a sudden and the sudden urge to kiss him was strong. Instead she put her hands on his and took them off her face, but she continued to hold them.

“You’re right, Juggie. I’m sorry, let’s have fun,” she smiled at him with a promise that she was going to do better.

Then she started walking, dragging Jughead along with her. “And let’s begin with some weird food combinations and after that we can try the shooting game again. I’ll show him who is a sweetheart.” The laugh she received gave her all the confidence she needed.

Once Betty relaxed and let herself have fun the day went by quickly. They played some games, ate more food than was healthy and even spend some time with their friends, who kept their comments to themselves, probably because of Betty’s glares. Mostly they just walked around, enjoying each other’s company, talking about the most ordinary things and lots of small touches. 

Jughead had taken to putting his hand on her back to lead her through crowds and Betty was pretty sure she was going to feel the ghost of that hand for days to come. Sometimes when it got really crowded, he put his arm around her and she took full advantage by leaning in as close as possible. She didn’t often stand still by the fact that he was quite a bit taller than her, but in moments like this, where she perfectly fit under his shoulder, she loved it. It made her feel safe.

And then there was the hand holding. She had held Jughead’s hand many times over the past few years, she had held is hand only a few days ago. But today she found out how amazingly well their hands fitted together, like two puzzle pieces. Jughead even started lacing their fingers together and Betty was on cloud nine from that moment forward. Holding hands with a boy was an amazing experience, it was so comforting and thrilling at the same time. She felt like a 13 year old by how excited she was and she didn’t care.

She once again concluded that Jughead Jones has great hands.

When it started getting dark, Jughead suggested going on the ferris wheel before calling it a day. The attraction was impressive, giving you a full view of the town when you were at the top. The fact that the seats were small and thus Betty and Jughead were pressed against each other wasn’t so bad either.

“I had a lot of fun today,” Jughead said while they were going up.

“Me too. I’m sorry I freaked out earlier, but after that it was fantastic.” Jughead bumped her with his shoulder which made their cart shake a little.

“Maybe we can do this again sometime.”

Betty couldn’t control her smile or the butterflies in her stomach. Today hadn’t been a fluke. 

“Maybe,” she tried to play it coy, but they both knew what she meant. She ran her pinky along the length of his before lacing them together and the sigh that Jughead let out at this small contact made her want to do things, she had never thought about before, things she couldn’t do in the small ferris wheel seat.

She looked down for distraction and studied the people on the ground, they all looked so small and, at that moment, unimportant. She didn’t know why she had let other people bother her so much. Let them watch if they wanted, she was only going to think about herself and Jughead from this point on.

“Wow,” she heard Jughead say and she looked up. They were stopped at the top of the ferris wheel and Riverdale lay below them, the sun setting behind the town. It looked beautiful, but also like it wasn’t real, the houses looked like dollhouses and the white picket fences made her want to roll her eyes. This was the town where her parents had been born, where she had been born and had grown up in and she loved it, but maybe she was outgrowing Riverdale. Maybe she was ready to leave it behind soon.

She turned and looked at Jughead, watched as the last sun rays danced across his face. Her breath got stuck in her throat, in that moment he looked so young. He had grown up right alongside her, but his attitude had always made him seem more mature. It always seemed Jughead was ready to move away from Riverdale as quickly as possible, he didn’t fit into the perfect americana of this town. But sitting next to her now was an 17 year old boy who looked at their hometown with endearment A 17 year old boy who made her feel good, who she enjoyed spending time with. A 17 year old boy who she liked, a lot.

Feeling her gaze on his face, he turned and looked her straight in the eye. Betty didn’t know how long they sat there, staring at one another. Neither saying anything, they didn’t need to. They just studied each other, communicating without words. It was intimate and Betty’s heart was hammering away in her chest.

“Do you wanna walk me home?” she whispered eventually.

Jughead blinked twice, calling Betty’s attention to his unfairly long eyelashes and then nodded slowly. 

When they touched ground again, Jughead grabbed her hand and, with a quick wave to their friends, they left the fair.

The walk to the Cooper house was quiet, but comfortable. It was as if all their words for the day were used up, but that was okay, they didn’t need to say anything anymore. They just needed to be there. Their hands were clasped together and Betty wondered about how natural it felt. Every once in a while they would bump shoulders together or they would steal glances at the other. 

It felt like a dream, she felt light and happy and wished this could just continue. But then her house appeared, threatening to end this wonderful day.

“We’re here,” Jughead said, announcing the obvious. 

Neither let go of the other’s hand.

“Do you wanna come inside,” Betty suggested. “We can watch another episode of Vikings, for the school project.” It was a lame excuse, but Betty wasn’t ready to call it a night yet.

Luckily Jughead seemed to be on the same page. “Okay,” was his short reply. 

Betty looked at him and he stared back with an expression that she had never seen on his face before. A mix between curiosity and longing and it send a shiver down her spine.

“Okay,” she said back. She opened the front door and pulled him inside.

The house was dark and quiet and they were standing close together in the small welcoming hall, neither of them backing away.

“Where are your parents,” Jughead asked.

“They’re away for the night,” the answer hanging between them for a second.

Jughead smiled. “Betty Cooper,” he said mockingly. “Inviting boys while her parents are away. What will the people think?”

“They will say, ‘Oh, it’s just Jughead,” she giggled, but the sound died down quickly when she looked at his face. It was that expression again, now mixed with determination. She swallowed loudly, he wasn’t just Jughead anymore. Something had changed and, if the tension around them was any indication, it was about to change even more.

“Betts,” he said, his voice an octave lower than normal.

“Juggie,” she replied while taking a tiny step back.

“Why are you backing away,” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Well stop.”

“Why? What are you going to do.”

He took a big step forward, so that there was only about an inch left between their body’s. They weren’t touching, but he was close enough to make her feel completely surrounded, it was too much and not enough at the same time.

“I was just going to thank you for today,” he bent down and softly pressed his lips to her cheek and her heart felt like it exploded. She did a full body shiver and she was sure he could feel it.

His lips didn’t leave her cheek, softly brushing against her skin.

“Jug,” she breathed out. He backed away a tiny bit at her voice, but not completely. Instead he kissed the corner of her mouth and she could not control the flip her stomach did nor the tiny sigh she let out.

He once again didn’t move from this spot. She could feel not just his determination, but also his doubts. Mostly she felt her own body, screaming to be kissed. She grabbed the sides of his shirt and pulled him a little closer, until they were touching chest to chest.

He leaned away far enough so he could look her in the eyes and what she saw there was want and fear. So she tucked at his shirt and found her voice.

“Are you going to kiss me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a cliffhanger.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this look inside the confusing and stressful emotions that come with going on a first date.


End file.
